Cody Bellinger had a grand slam and six RBIs during an 11-run first inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rolled to a 14-3 victory at home Wednesday against the St Louis Cardinals.
The Dodgers sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning and didn’t make their first out until No 9 hitter Walker Buehler struck out. Los Angeles had scored six times by then.
It was the most runs in any inning for the Dodgers since moving to Los Angeles in 1958 and the largest inning since the Brooklyn Dodgers scored 15 in one frame in 1952. The Dodgers scored 11 runs in the first inning of Game 3 in the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves last season.
Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez (3-5) recorded just two outs, giving up 10 runs on six hits with four walks and one strikeout. The outing set a Dodger Stadium record for most runs allowed by a starter in less than a full inning of work. The Cardinals actually held a 1-0 lead on a Paul Goldschmidt home run three batters into the game. It was Goldschmidt’s seventh of the season and 33rd all-time against the Dodgers.
Justin Turner drove in the Dodgers’ first run in the opening inning on a single and Bellinger followed with a two-run single to give the Dodgers the lead for good.
Gavin Lux had an RBI single for a 4-1 lead and Zach McKinstry’s two-run single made it 6-1. After Buehler struck out, Mookie Betts singled for a 7-1 lead. Bellinger’s grand slam, just over the wall in right, made it 11-1. It was the first home run of the season for Bellinger, who spent 46 days on the injured list with a hairline fracture in his lower left leg.
Buehler (4-0) gave up three runs on seven hits over six innings, with two walks and eight strikeouts. In addition to Goldschmidt’s home run, Dylan Carlson also went deep off Buehler for his sixth of the season. The Dodgers took two of three against the Cardinals and went 3-4 on their just-completed homestand. The Cardinals went 5-5 on a 10-gam.
Manaea pitches CG shutout
over Mariners
Sean Manaea pitched a four-hit shutout as the Oakland Athletics defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-0 Wednesday night. Mitch Moreland homered for the A’s, who won the final two games of the series after dropping the opener.
Manaea (4-2), a left-hander, walked two and struck out eight in his second career nine-inning complete game. The other came on April 21, 2018, when he no-hit the Boston Red Sox.
Mariners right-hander Chris Flexen (5-3) gave up five runs on seven hits in six innings, with one walk and three strikeouts. Flexen retired the side in order in the first two innings before running into trouble in the third, when the A’s scored five runs. Matt Chapman led off the inning by drawing a walk. An out later, Elvis Andrus fouled off several pitches before doubling down the left-field line. Mark Canha lined the next pitch into center field for a two-run single. Canha advanced to second on a groundout and scored on Matt Olson’s line-drive single up the middle.
Moreland then hit a 1-0 pitch halfway up the batter’s eye in center field for a two-run homer to make it 5-0. The ball traveled an estimated 444 feet, according to Statcast. Manaea didn’t allow a hit until Mitch Haniger’s hard one-hopper up the middle to lead off the fourth, with the ball going off the end of second baseman Jed Lowrie’s glove as he was shifted to the left side of the base. The Mariners loaded the bases in the fifth on singles by Tom Murphy and Jack Mayfield and a walk to Jake Fraley, but Manaea got J.P. Crawford to ground out to second to end the threat. The only other runner the Mariners put on base came on Mayfield’s ground-ball single to left leading off the eighth. Fraley hit a broken-bat grounder to second and was thrown out, but first baseman Olson saw that Mayfield had rounded second and threw to shortstop Andrus to complete the 4-3-6 double play.
Anthony Rizzo snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run double in the fifth and Javier Baez rocketed a two-run homer two innings later to lead Chicago to a win and a three-game sweep of visiting San Diego. The game featured Padres left fielder Tommy Pham and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who knocked in the Padres’ only run on a fourth-inning single, both leaving early after a scary collision in short left field in the bottom of the fourth.
Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay (4-4) got the win, allowing a run on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in five innings. Padres starter Dinelson Lamet gave up a run on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts in four innings.
Results
Dodgers 14-3 Cardinals
Athletics 6-0 Mariners
Cubs 6-1 Padres
Mets 7-6 D’Backs
Orioles 6-3 Twins
Yankees 4-3 Rays
Nationals 5-3 Braves
Blue Jays 6-5 Marlins
Astros 2-1 Red Sox
Rockies 6-3 Rangers
Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger follows through on a two-RBI single during the first inning as St Louis Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner looks on. (USA TODAY Sports)