Powered by a dramatic Cody Bellinger home run in the top of the ninth inning, the Dodgers defeated the Brewers 6-5 in Milwaukee on Easter Sunday, taking three of four of the roadtrip’s first leg.
By doing so, the Dodgers claimed the season series four games to three.
Joc Pederson had a monster day for Los Angeles, going 4-for-5 including two home runs, his ninth and tenth of the season. Seemingly, Pederson’s contributions were enough to seal the win, but a bullpen meltdown by the Dodgers forced the offense to once again save the day.
Heading into the eighth inning with a 5-2 lead, the Dodgers appeared to be set to secure Clayton Kershaw‘s first win of the year. However, the Milwaukee offense had other plans in the latter stages of the game.
Pedro Baez relieved Scott Alexander in the bottom of the eighth inning, and after allowing singles to Ryan Braun and Yasmani Grandal, skipper Dave Roberts called on closer Kenley Jansen to replace Baez and potentially record a four-out save.
Yet, it didn’t quite work out the way Roberts drew it up. The first batter Jansen faced, pinch-hittert Eric Thames, launched a homer over the center field wall, scoring Braun and Grandal and tying the game at five. Jansen retired Travis Shaw to end the inning, but the damage was done as many spectators had the sense the momentum was changing.
But it was Bellinger who saved the day for the Dodgers in the top of the ninth inning, blasting his 11th homer into the right field stands and giving the Dodgers the lead for good at 6-5. Cody finished the day going 3-for-4 and recording three RBI, bringing his season total to 28.
Corey Seager also had a productive day for Los Angeles, going 3-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored.
Despite a few control issues, Kershaw was solid. He threw an even six innings on 92 pitches, allowing two earned runs on two hits and four walks while striking out seven. One of those hits was a solo home run off the bat of Lorenzo Cain in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Despite the blown save and the home run by Thames, Jansen threw a perfect ninth inning to record the victory.
After a day off on Monday, the Dodgers head to Chicago to finish the current road trip with a three-game set against the Cubs.
Currently, the Dodgers’ record is 15-9. They lead both the Diamondbacks and Padres in the West by three full games.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Dodger bull-pen. What can a man say. The bull pen will go down in history as gone to hell. This team is going no where without a bull pen instead of a pig pen. Their wants are simple but their needs are atrocious. They need a new manager besides a bull pen, and a new Phy therapist.
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Joc continues to impress. 1/4 of the way to 40 HR and it’s still 10 days until May. Kershaw again was 89-91 but he’s making it work. Kenley is a shell of his former self before the big contract. Yes he’s still very good but he used to be untouchable and strike fear into the batter. I know we have Urias and Stripling coming to help the pen but I say the Dodgers still need to go get Kimbrel. Come October it will be very handy having two legitimate closers you can deploy and could make the difference in a championship and coming up just short again. If we were to get into a series with the Yankees their bullpen would destroy ours.
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Of Kershaw’s 7 strikeouts today none were from his fastball. 5 were sliders and 2 curveballs. The heat may not be there anymore but the slider and curveball are still downright nasty.
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Steve, What?
Alex, Barnes starting to leak oil. Still think he’s an all star?
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Absolutely. He’s just in a rough patch, all hitters get them. I think he’s probably a little tired too from playing the majority of the games with Martin out.
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This team is growing on me.
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I’m very concerned about Kenley notice the last 3 games giving up a run every game. Big problem
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Great Yeli-Belli battle this weekend! If onlywe could convince JOC that he has 20 bdays a year
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When it works it’s a thing of beauty.
Current projections, which change weekly, have us right behind Houston. Yankees injuries, and Boston’s slow start, show us finishing with more wins than them. Man would that be helpful. As long as the AL has the DH they have an every day extra #3/4 hitter that we don’t. AL home field is a huge deal and will no doubt make them favorites. But…. if we should get home field…..
Ok, it’s still April. Way too early for all that.
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You guys amaze me. Baez put the Dodgers in that bad spot, not Kenley. Jansen got the blown save but two of those runners were on Baez. He is the one who did not do his job. Jansen has 7 saves and 2 wins. Means he has been involved in over half the wins. I see no losses on his ledger and only 1 blown save thanks to Mr. Baez. Jansen may not be the Jansen of a couple of years ago, but wow guys, we are less than a month into the season and the guy has 7 saves. You cannot get saves in blowout games and there have been a few stretches where he did not pitch for a few days. Kelly on the other hand still stinks the place up. They are 15-9, in first place, and looking like a lot better team than they were last year. And Turner and Seager have not even got on track yet! The Brewers live and die by the home run. This team has a better BA with runners in scoring position, is leading the league in hitting and is finally getting some length from the starting staff. I would start worrying if Jansen started blowing saves and the team not come back to win those games. So far that has not been the case. Yep, He has given up 6 runs, only 4 earned, in his 11 games. I would worry more about the increased strikeout totals of Muncy and Turner, the lack of production from Chris Taylor, the inconsistency of Garcia, Kelly, and Baez, all have ERA’s well above 4. Pollock and Barnes have not let their slumps affect their fielding. Barnes definitely needs a blow and Martin will be back this weekend against the Pirates, he is not going on a re-hab assignment. Hill will be back in a week or so. They are the class of the division right now and in a much better position than last year. As a staff the pitchers have given up 33 dingers with Ryu leading with 5. Way too early to tell what the team will look like in September.
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Wow bear love the positivity and I agree wholeheartedly! We need to get over the fact that Jansen and Kersh are no longer the best in baseball but they’re still plenty good. Look at Hader who is the best in baseball and he just gave up 2 game losing homers. S…..t happens even to the best. Keep the faith with Kersh and Jansen!
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To those who espouse going out and getting Kimbrel, Old Andy is not forking out big bucks at this point in time…although I would love to see them lock up a couple of the kids like some other teams have.
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Yeah bear your right AF would rather bring in twenty retreads hoping he strikes gold with one. I’m not saying he’s right or wrong, but that’s the way he works. The chances of us signing Kimbrel have to be as close to zero as you can get.
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I heard that Zac Rosscup might be available.
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Schultz is gonna open some eyes in 2nd half this year. Another dumpster diamond
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