Bellinger, Urias lead Dodgers to 3-1 victory over Yelich, Brewers
MILWAUKEE — Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich chatted in the outfield after batting practice ended. Once Thursday’s game started, the bats of the National League home run co-leaders kept the exchange going.
Bellinger hit his 10th home run, Max Muncy also went deep, and Julio Urias struck out a career-high nine and allowed one hit in six strong innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 Thursday to extend their winning streak to five games.
“Just conversations, just talking about baseball,” Bellinger said of the dialogue between the two. “He’s great on and off the field.”
Bellinger drove a 3-2 pitch from reliever Matt Albers (1-1) into the Dodgers’ bullpen in right center in the sixth inning.
“It’s going to be fun competing against him, hopefully, all year,” Bellinger said after Yelich added his own homer and the pair moved into a tie with Oakland’s Khris Davis for the major league home run lead.
Muncy followed Bellinger’s drive with a two-run shot that landed in the netting above the Brewers’ bullpen in left.
That was all the offense Urias (11) needed.
“He was great,” Bellinger said of Urias, who is headed back to the bullpen after two spot starts against the Brewers. “Spotting every single pitch. Really confident up there.”
The Brewers saw a totally different Urias than the one they beat 8-5 at Dodger Stadium six days ago, when he allowed six runs, five earned, on six hits.
“He was really good tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Urias. “Best he’s thrown. The differentiation between the fastball and the change-up tonight was very subtle. Those guys weren’t taking good swings, weren’t getting good looks at it.”
Asked where Urias fits into the pitching plans, the Dodgers manager had a quick answer.
“We feel he’s a major league starter,” Roberts said. “Julio’s certainly proved that.”
Orlando Arcia slapped a single up the middle with two outs in the fifth for the only hit off Urias.
“He just made a lot more pitches,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Outside of (Luis) Castillo’s start for the Reds, that was the best anybody has pitched against us this year.”
Caleb Ferguson pitched a scoreless seventh. Joe Kelly came on with one out and one on in the eighth and escaped, thanks to left fielder Joc Pederson’s throw to the plate that beat Hernan Perez’s slide home.
Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his sixth save, despite Yelich hitting his 10th homer of the season.
Milwaukee starter Zach Davies allowed three hits over five innings, with three walks and two strikeouts. Twice he stranded runners at third and turned a scoreless tie over to Albers in the sixth.