LOS ANGELES — There was an eruption from the crowd. Air horns over the PA system. And, in a dramatic scene in the bottom of the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, a cathartic relief from one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ most struggling hitters.
With the bases loaded and the score tied, shades of the old Cody Bellinger reappeared at Chavez Ravine.
In an 0-and-2 count with two outs, the former MVP and once-feared slugger unloaded on a curveball over the plate, blasting a monumental — and, the Dodgers hope, momentous — grand slam that sent the Dodgers to a 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Entering the at-bat, Bellinger was in the midst of another bad night, in what has become another bad season.
He was hitless in three at-bats earlier in the game. His batting average had dropped to .206.
And he seemed to be going to the plate almost by default, walking into a left-on-left matchup against Giants reliever Sam Long on a night the best right-handed bat on the Dodgers bench, Justin Turner, was out with a rib issue.
The at-bat did not start pretty. Bellinger swung through a fastball for strike one. He took the next pitch, a curveball on the outside corner, and took issue with the plate umpire when it was called for strike two.
But then, Bellinger buckled down.
He fouled off an inside curveball, outside fastball and down-the-middle changeup.
When Long threw an offspeed pitch over the heart of the plate again, Bellinger didn’t miss.
His seventh career grand slam hooked just inside the right-field foul pole.
Bellinger tossed his bat away in delight as he skipped up the first-base line.
When he returned to the dugout, a crowd of 51,316 screamed his name until he obliged with a curtain call. When he jogged out to center field in the top of the ninth — his teammates hanging back for a second to again give him the stage — the celebration continued, chants of “Bell-eee! Bell-eee!” again echoing through the night.
Before Bellinger’s blast, Friday had been all about the rotation for the Dodgers — who got a strong six-inning, one-run outing from Tyler Anderson, and good news about several other injured arms who could bolster the group by season’s end.
Anderson’s start — which included just one unearned run — was the latest in an extended string of impressive performances from what has been at times a makeshift group, dropping the team’s MLB-best rotation ERA to 2.71.
Anderson started the season in the bullpen before being called upon after a rash of injuries and blossoming into a first-time All-Star.
Tony Gonsolin has been having a career year. Julio Urias has repeated his productive form from 2021. Clayton Kershaw has been dominant when healthy.
Even little-known Mitch White has proven himself a valuable commodity for a team that, in the wake of injuries to Andrew Heaney and Walker Buehler, has greatly needed depth.
The question now: Can the rotation get even better?
There are ample internal possibilities.
Heaney returned to the Dodgers clubhouse Friday, a day after the second outing of his second rehab assignment from a shoulder issue this year. He is expected to rejoin the rotation as soon as next week.
In triple A Oklahoma City on Friday, right-hander Dustin May took a key step in his return from Tommy John surgery, pitching two innings in his first rehab start with a full-season minor-league affiliate since the injury.
And then there’s Buehler, who told reporters Friday he will begin a throwing program on Monday, the first time he will have tossed a ball since suffering a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow six weeks ago.
If all goes well in Buehler’s recovery, he could be back in the rotation by mid to late September, which the team believes would give him enough time to get built back up and handle a starter’s workload in the postseason.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Buehler said. “But I think there’s some window, there’s an opportunity for that if things go really well.”
The Dodgers could also opt to pursue a starting pitcher ahead of next month’s trade deadline, and have already been linked with Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds, the best arm seemingly available this year.
But for now, the starting group continues to hold its own.
And on Friday, Anderson’s strong start paved the way for Bellinger’s late heroics in the Dodgers’ sixth consecutive win.
