Bellinger, Turner power Dodgers past Mets

June 20th, 2017

LOS ANGELES -- Even with Dodgers ace having an off night, home runs from , and Chris Taylor sent the Dodgers to their 10th win in 11 games, a 10-6 victory over the Mets on Monday at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers racked up a season-high 17 hits and handed Kershaw a 7-0 lead after two innings. Mets starter Zack Wheeler gave up four runs in the first, including a three-run homer to Bellinger, and three in the second, when Turner and Bellinger went back to back.
Area Cody: Rookie hits HRs at historic rate

Bellinger's second shot put him in the record books as the first player to hit 21 home runs through their first 51 games. Turner went 4-for-4 with four RBIs, extending his hitting streak to 14 games. He's batting .399 on the season, but is 16 plate appearances short of qualifying for the league lead. Taylor hit a solo shot in the seventh, giving him eight home runs on the season.
"The results show it's a hot streak," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "But if you look within the results, it's winning pitches, hitting into good hitters counts, and when we get behind, find a way to get a walk or put a ball in play. Those things result in a relentless offense."

Wheeler was pulled after two innings, having allowed seven runs on eight hits, but the Mets didn't go quietly, scoring six runs on four home runs off Kershaw, a career high for the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner.
"It's really frustrating," Wheeler said, noting that he feels fine physically in his first season back from 2015 Tommy John surgery. "It all starts with me, though. These last two outings weren't very fun."
homered twice, belting a solo shot in the third and a two-run homer in the seventh. added another solo shot in the fourth and hit his first career home run in the fifth. Eight home runs were hit between the teams.

"I'm giving up a lot of home runs right now," Kershaw said. "You hope mistakes are hit for singles or doubles or whatever, it just so happens that mine are going out of the ballpark right now. I don't know what you do to change that, other than stop making mistakes, I guess."
The four home runs by the Mets raised Kershaw's season total to 17, which is a new career-high for the lefty. Kershaw allowed 16 home runs in 33 starts in 2012.
"It's ironic, because I thought the stuff was the best it's been over his last three starts," Roberts said. "If you look at the whole body of work, 112 pitches, he made four mistakes and they unfortunately went out of the ballpark."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Racing ahead: Following Turner's two-run homer in the second, Bellinger gave the Dodgers a commanding lead by hitting a full-count home run to center field that put the Dodgers up, 7-0. Bellinger and Hall of Famer Mike Piazza are the only Dodgers rookies with five multihomer games.

Getting out of trouble: With the Mets trailing, 10-6, in the eighth, Dodgers reliever Chris Hatcher loaded the bases, giving up a single to and walking Bruce and . Reyes entered the batter's box with a chance to tie the ballgame. But after pitching coach Rick Honeycutt came out to the mound, Hatcher settled in, firing a 96.3-mph four-seam fastball to get Reyes to strike out swinging and end the inning.
"I think the best chance that I had was on the first pitch, and I fouled that one off," Reyes said. "After that, I swung at like three bad pitches. I was a little bit overaggressive there."

QUOTABLE
"We need to turn it around sooner or later. It's late June and we're not even playing .500 baseball. Hopefully we can play better baseball starting tomorrow. -- Reyes
"I don't have any answers, but I do know that they are hitting the ball in the air. His track record, I think, I'm certain it'll even out, and this pace of giving up home runs for Clayton, definitely don't see it continuing." -- Roberts, on Kershaw
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Given the dubious pleasure of making his first career start against Kershaw, Cecchini cranked the Mets' third homer off him, a two-run shot in the fifth. That made him the third player to hit his first big league home run vs. Kershaw, joining Milwaukee's -- who never hit another homer in the Majors -- and Cincinnati's Darnell McDonald.
Cecchini's first homer comes vs. Kershaw

WHAT'S NEXT
Mets: Los Angeles native will make his first career start in the state of California when the Mets return to Dodger Stadium for a 10:10 p.m. ET rematch Tuesday. Gsellman gave up seven runs in five innings last time out, taking his first loss in a month.
Dodgers: will take the mound for the Dodgers on Tuesday following a start against Cleveland in which he gave up one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings. The righty sports a 3.14 ERA and is 5-3 on the season. First pitch is slated for 7:10 pm PT.
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