Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Dodgers overpower Urena
Rookie Cody Bellinger hits for cycle as Wood pitches 6 scoreless
MIAMI – On Saturday night, during the Marlins 7-1 loss to the Dodgers, the steamrolling, bulldozing, towering, bullying juggernaut of the National League came in many forms. It resembled Cody Bellinger. It mirrored Alex Wood. It looked like Yasmani Grandal.
The trio helped the Dodgers dispatch the Marlins for the second straight night at Marlins Park. Los Angeles, quite simply, is playing better baseball than anyone in the world — including their hosts.
The Dodgers (63-29) have lost four times in the last 39 days. They have won eight games in a row. They will attempt their third consecutive sweep Sunday afternoon.
The Marlins (41-48) have not been .500 in 79 days. They have not had a four-game winning streak since the end of May. They entered Saturday nine games out of a playoff spot.
Bellinger, the 22-year-old rookie phenom, became the ninth player in Dodger history to complete the cycle when he legged out a seventh-inning triple. Wood, the left-handed All-Star, spun six shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.56. Grandal, the Miami native, drove in three runs.
The Marlins just happen to be their prey this weekend. On Saturday night, it was right-hander Jose Ureña’s turn to be victimized by the visitors.
Ureña endured a disastrous third inning
in which Los Angeles sent nine men to the plate. Five scored. Bellinger stroked a two-run home run into the right-field bullpen. Grandal socked a threerun shot that hugged the foul pole. Ureña threw 48 pitches in the third alone.
Ureña was yanked after the inning, marking his shortest start of the season since joining the rotation in early May. He gave up seven hits and three walks. He recorded three strikeouts, but two were of the opposing starter Wood.
Before Ureña departed, though, Friday night nearly bled into Saturday evening. A second-inning confrontation between Yasiel Puig and Ureña injected excitement early. Puig homered twice Friday night — one a monstrous 449-foot bomb to left field, the other a gamewinning three-run jack to left-center field.
In propelling the Dodgers to Friday’s victory, Puig admired his efforts. In the ninth inning, he tossed his bat towards his dugout and turned his back to the baseball. He pounded his chest and extended his arms around first base.
Ureña’s first pitch to Puig on Saturday came with a runner on second and one out. It was an inside 97-mph thigh-high fastball. Puig lowered his bat with his right hand, waved around his left one, and took four measured steps towards Ureña on the mound. The benches and bullpens trickled onto the warning track as Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto intervened with Puig.
No punches were thrown. No shoves were issued. No chaos ensued. Puig flew out to shallow right field.
Ureña has been a steady if predictable presence in the Marlins rotation. He completed at least five innings in each of his past seven starts. He didn’t record an out in the seventh inning in any of them. Saturday’s loss was his second in his last 11 starts and his second straight appearance giving up multiple home runs.
Marlins hitters, meanwhile, couldn’t crack Wood. He scattered three hits and issued one walk. No Marlin reached second base against him as he finished a breezy 80 pitches. Center fielder Christian Yelich had two of Miami’s three hits off him.
Wood awaited Miami after Friday’s crushing loss, an outcome that could have been a victory over the best team in baseball. It could have continued a win streak that started with a sweep in San Francisco.
“You’d like to say you move on, and you do,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said before Saturday’s game. “You have to because we have to be ready to go tonight. But that’s definitely one of those that stings more than a normal game.”