LA breaks a HR record, wins on 4th blast in 11
Dodgers best franchise's season-high mark, up to 238; Bellinger ties MLB lead with 43rd homer
PHOENIX -- The Dodgers can orchestrate exciting wins on the road, too.
Owner of 12 walk-off victories this season, Los Angeles brought its late-inning heroics to Chase Field on Sunday afternoon. After Cody Bellinger hit a game-tying home run in the ninth, Joc Pederson’s 454-foot, 11th-inning homer sent the Dodgers to a 4-3 win over the D-backs, lowering their magic number to clinch the National League West title to seven.
Pederson’s pinch-hit shot was Los Angeles’ fourth solo homer of the day and its 238th home run of the season. That mark broke the previous franchise record of 235 set last year.
“It’s sick,” Pederson said. “That just shows how many great players we have on this team, the depth. It’s pretty special. I’ve never been a part of anything like it. You never know, one through nine or anyone off the bench, who’s going to change the ballgame. It’s pretty cool.”
The Dodgers lead the National League in home runs and trail only the Twins (MLB-record 268) and Yankees (256) in MLB, but Pederson’s was one of the most important, as it helped them bounce back from a stretch in which they lost six out of nine games.
Coming off the bench and working an impressive at-bat against D-backs right-hander Taylor Clarke, Pederson delivered a moonshot home run, which had a launch angle of 31 degrees, on the eighth pitch he saw. However, the key may have been the bat he was using.
Pederson said former Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier visited the team Saturday, and the outfielder used one of the bats that Ethier gave him.
“He says it had a lot of hits in it,” Pederson said. “I think they’re just left over. But he says that his bats are way harder than everyone else’s, so they’re still hard.”
Bellinger’s game-tying blast was his 43rd homer of the season, moving him into a tie for the Major League lead with the Angels’ Mike Trout and the Mets' Pete Alonso, while also tying Duke Snider and Gary Sheffield for the third-most homers hit by a Dodgers player in a season.
It was also Bellinger’s 16th home run off a left-handed pitcher this season, with the blast coming against Arizona southpaw Andrew Chafin.
“He’s earned it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s always hit left-handed pitching. Last year, certainly, was an aberration at times against left-handers. But he’s made the adjustments that he’s needed to make, and I feel very comfortable with him in the box against anyone.”
Russell Martin’s leadoff homer in the third broke Los Angeles’ single-season club record, while David Freese also went deep, homering in the first in his first at-bat since coming off the injured list.
But it was Pederson that prevented the Dodgers from getting swept.
“It was as big of a hit for us as we’ve had all year, considering obviously losing the first three here and where the pitching was at -- you’re down to a couple arms at that point in time,” Roberts said. “I can’t say enough about this entire ballclub, from the pitching side to the defense to the at-bat quality … all of it.”