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Cody Bellinger has appeared in 258 career MLB games on first base, but the Dodgers star hadn’t played there at all during the 2021 season until Tuesday night at Oracle Park against the Giants.
When the Dodgers needed a big game late in the eighth inning, Bellinger, who was playing first with a hamstring injury the team was trying to protect, had the right idea, but didn’t couldn’t perform it and it ultimately led to the Giants scoring a wild 2-1 victory over their rival.
With runners on first and second and no one on the outside, Blake Treinen had Darin Ruf hit a slow roll on second baseman Max Muncy, who first chased Mike Yastrzemski on first before throwing to Bellinger on the bag to force Ruf.
Bellinger then pretended to move on to second, hoping to get Buster Posey out of third. Posey came out of base and Bellinger attempted to throw behind him, but sent the ball over Justin Turner’s head and into the protective net, allowing the Giants wide receiver to score the go-ahead.
“I pretended to pump in the second to try and get Posey out of the base and when I looked I saw him far enough from the base that a good pitch hit him,” said Bellinger to reporters after the game. “I absolutely threw it, it slipped out of my hands. There are no excuses. I just threw it too high.”
The safe play would have been to throw to second base to try to get Yastrzemski or keep the ball. But Bellinger is convinced that if he had performed correctly, the outcome would have been different.
“I think a good pitch stops it,” Bellinger said. “I have to go back and watch him, but when I saw him turn he had his momentum towards the house, so I think a good pitch – JT was right there – so I think a good pitch l ‘Brings on. Obviously there’s safe play and letting Blake try to get out of this round because he’s got some nasty stuff. So I don’t know. “
Posey raced home as Oracle Giants fans went mad, and closest Jake McGee shut the door on Bellinger and the Dodgers in the ninth to give San Francisco a three-game lead in the West. the NL.
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