SAN FRANCISCO – Dave Roberts and Cody Bellinger appear to have different interpretations of what it means to hustle on the field. The Los Angeles Dodgers manager made sure his version prevailed.
During the Dodgers’ fifth loss in their last six games, a 4-2 setback Sunday at the hand of the San Francisco Giants, Roberts yanked his star first baseman from the game an inning after Bellinger didn’t run hard on a deep drive, then got doubled off on a liner to shortstop.
The combination of plays clearly irked Roberts, whose club has played well below expectations in starting off with a 12-15 record after reaching the World Series last fall.
Bellinger, the unanimous National League rookie of the year in 2017, crushed a liner to the right-center field gap leading off the fifth with Los Angeles down 4-0. Even though the ball bounced off the wall in the deepest part of the ballpark – the area known as Triples Alley – Bellinger made no attempt to go for third.
“I felt there wasn’t hustle on the play,’’ Roberts said. “A ball he hit 421 feet into right-center field and he cruised into second base. … You have a right fielder (Dodgers teammate Kike Hernandez) who had chills the day prior and throwing up and he’s diving around out there, and for Cody not to be on third base, and it’s something we’ve talked about before. I wouldn’t be doing him or the team any service by not acting.’’
Bellinger, 22, acknowledged there was a game 2-3 weeks ago when he failed to run out a fly ball he thought was foul, then had to settle for only getting to first base when it dropped.
But he disputed Roberts’ contention that he didn’t hustle on Sunday’s double, saying he was merely playing smart baseball.
“I’ve always played the game hard,’’ Bellinger said. “I kind of took a big swing at the curveball, down on my knee. We’re down four runs. I’m not trying to make an out on the bases going to third. He saw what he saw, so it’s all good.’’
The disagreement was likely compounded when, two batters later, Kyle Farmer ripped a liner to the right of shortstop Brandon Crawford, who made a diving catch and doubled up Bellinger off second to end the inning. It was an excellent play, but right in front of Bellinger, who didn’t make sure the ball got through before taking off.
Bellinger actually stayed in the game for the bottom half of the fifth and didn’t get pulled out until the sixth, when Max Muncy replaced him defensively at first. Bellinger, who is batting .291 with an .827 OPS, said he didn’t get an explanation from Roberts for taking him out, but won’t let the incident affect how he plays.
“I’m going to keep playing the way I do,’’ he said. “I don’t think anyone can tell me how to play. I always play hard.’’
On the way to their first World Series appearance since 1988, the Dodgers finished with the best record in the majors last season at 104-58. They haven’t come close to that level this year, climbing above .500 only once at 11-10, only to dip three games below with their latest skid.
And now they’re headed toward Chase Field, their own house of horrors, for a four-game series beginning Monday. The NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks have beaten L.A. in five of their six encounters this season, including a three-game sweep in Phoenix in early April.
So it’s entirely possible that, by benching a rising star like Bellinger, Roberts was sending a message that it was time for his club to snap out of its listless start.
Told that he sounded more frustrated than usual, the usually upbeat Roberts said:
“You lose three of four to a division foe and … we’ve just got to play better baseball. We’ve got to win some baseball games.’’
