The Dodgers will never hit a home run again.
April Fool's!
Cody Bellinger blasted the team's first home run of the season and the Los Angeles Dodgers split the Opening Series with the San Francisco Giants, 9-0, on Easter Sunday.
Bellinger was hitless on the season before teeing off on a first-pitch fastball from Giants relief pitcher Josh Osich in the bottom of the sixth inning.
"There's definitely more pressure to get that first hit," said Bellinger. "0-for-8 [actually 0-for-9] feels like 0-for-20 to start the series. It was nice to get both of them out of the way in the same at-bat."
Before the home run, San Francisco starter Chris Stratton was hitless through the first three innings. Stratton (0-1) allowed three runs on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts in 5 and 1/3 innings.
Rich Hill (1-0) got the win, escaping basesloaded jams in the third and fourth innings. Hill scattered five hits with three walks and five strikeouts in six shutout innings.
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"I continued to make them swing the bats, I think that's the biggest thing," Hill said of escaping the jams. "In those situations you want to avoid free passes and make them put the ball in play and let the defense do what they did all night. It worked out."
Hill has been sensational against San Francisco since joining the Dodgers at the trade deadline in 2016. Hill improved to 6-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 12 career starts against the Giants.
The Dodgers bullpen tossed another three scoreless innings on the night, and have not allowed a run in 11 of 12 innings thus far on the season.
Enrique Hernandez went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Yasiel Puig went 3-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored. Puig also helped bring the Dodgers first run across in one of the more unusual plays you'll see.
Puig earned his first three-hit game of the season, and first since July 25, 2017 against the Minnesota Twins.
After getting shutout in the first two games of the season, the Dodgers have turned the tables on the Giants, scoring 14 total runs in back-to-back shutouts of their rivals.
The Dodgers have won 10 of their last 14 meetings against the Giants.
Wild Horse Steals A Run
Yasiel Puig tried to tag on a fly ball in the fourth inning, but instead got caught in a run down between first and second base.
"I said 'thanks for being an idiot,'" joked Cody Bellinger who hit the fly ball that Puig and Seager tagged on. "That time it was a good time to be an idiot. It's all jokes though with him and it was pretty cool."
As Puig found himself in the pickle, he waved Cory Seager home as he continued to get chased. Puig made it safely back to first and Seager scored on the play.
"I got a little excited and do my own coach saying 'Go, go, go!' [to Seager]," said Puig of the play. "I see I had to make safe at first base. I slide and the blue said 'safe,' and that's the reason we made the first run of the game."
Holding On To History
The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team in Major League baseball history to hold an opponent to two runs or less in a season-opening four-game series.
FUN FACT:
The #Dodgers became the first team in MLB history to hold an opponent to two runs or less in a season-opening four-game series.— Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) April 2, 2018
Up Next:
The Dodgers head out on their first road trip of the season as they take on the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game series in the desert. LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu will start opposite RHP Taijuan Walker at 6:40PM PST on Monday.
