It’s no secret that the defending World Series champion Dodgers have had more than their share of struggles through their first 76 games, a good many of which the result of significant injuries to several key players. Among them was losing soon-to-be (on July 13) 26-year-old All-Star outfielder / first baseman Cody Bellinger; first for a fractured left fibula suffered on April 6, followed by a strained left hamstring on June 15 that landed him back on the IL four days later.

After missing a combined 20 games, the Scottsdale, AZ native and Dodgers fourth-round draft pick in 2013 out of Hamilton High School in Chandler, AZ, finally returned to action on June 23. Unfortunately, since returning, Bellinger was a dismal 1-for-12 (.083) with a single and has been anything but exciting for the current NL West second-place Dodgers.

…until Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

In what was arguably one of – if not the – best games of the season thus far for the defending World Champions, and with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bellinger, who had been given the night off by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts but entered the game as a pinch-hitter / defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh, absolutely crushed an 89.9-MPH cut fastball on a 3-1 count from Chicago Cubs right-hander Keegan Thompson for a monster 422-foot walk-off solo home run into the Right Field Pavilion to give the Dodgers their second straight win over the North Siders, having lost the first game of the four-game set.

“I knew I hit it well, but I haven’t hit too many [home runs] this year, so I didn’t really know for sure,” Bellinger said postgame. “But I knew it was my best bolt of the year, for sure.”

It was Bellinger’s third career walk-off home run.

“For him to get rewarded like that and to reward us like that was huge,” Roberts said. “And sometimes it’s just that one at-bat, one homer that can really get you going. Love the at-bats he has been taking, but certainly to walk a team off, and we needed that win considering where we were at with the pitching today.”

Thanks, Belli … we needed that win, too!

Play Ball!

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