Notebook: Bellinger Player of the Week, McCarthy among DL moves
by Rowan Kavner
Some players won’t ever be named Player of the Week. Cody Bellinger, just two months into his big-league career, has already accomplished the feat twice.
Bellinger was named National League Player of the Week on Monday after hitting .370/.400/1.037 with five home runs, three doubles and 12 RBI last week. He’s the first player in Major League Baseball this year to earn multiple weekly honors, with his first having occurred May 8.
He earned a curtain call in his most recent performance, finishing the week the way he started it with two home runs in a game. Bellinger already enters this week and the series against the Angels with six multi-home run games in 2017, trailing only Mark McGwire for the most as a rookie in MLB history.
Bellinger started the week reaching 21 home runs in his first 51 career games, becoming the fastest player in MLB history to reach the mark. He also passed Adrian Beltre for the most home runs in a season among Dodger players 21 years old or younger. The next night, Bellinger recorded another home run, giving him 10 over a 10-game span.
After his five-homer week, Bellinger now leads the National League with 24 home runs and a .679 slugging percentage.
Making Moves
The Dodgers made a flurry of moves before Monday’s game, placing right-handed pitcher Brandon McCarthy on the 10-day disabled list (right knee tendinitis) and optioning right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling to Triple-A Oklahoma City while recalling right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart and outfielder Trayce Thompson from Triple-A.
McCarthy allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits in three innings in his 13th start of the season Sunday in his shortest start of the year.
“Once we get this knee thing taken care of, expect him to make a start here in the next 11–12 days,” manager Dave Roberts said Monday.
McCarthy hadn’t thrown a wild pitch this season before throwing three Sunday. Even after that, McCarthy still holds a 3.25 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP for the season.
“He’s worked as much as anyone, if not harder than anyone because of not only the physical to recover from, but the mental,” Roberts said. “That was from last year to now. To have some of that going on in that second inning, yeah I felt for him.”
Stripling also pitched Sunday, allowing a run on three hits in two relief innings.
Thompson and Stewart are both making their second stints with the Dodgers this year. Stewart pitched one game in relief June 20, striking out four in three scoreless innings to earn his first Major League save. Thompson is still looking for his first Major League hit of 2017 after eight at-bats in three games from April 12–15. He’s hit .211 with seven home runs, eight doubles and four triples with 25 RBI in 62 games with Oklahoma City this year.
Other Notes:
· The Dodgers enter Monday having homered in 17 straight games since June 7, currently tied for the longest home run streak in LA Dodger history (May 29-June 16, 1960) and the second longest in franchise history (24 games, June 18-July 10, 1953)
· The Dodgers are coming off their eighth series sweep of the season and enter the Freeway Series on a 10-game winning streak, becoming the first National League team this season with a double-digit winning streak.
· Corey Seager (hamstring) is still out of Monday’s starting lineup, but Roberts said he’s potentially available to hit.
· The Dodgers are flipping the starts for Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood this week. Kenta Maeda will start Tuesday, followed by Hyun-Jin Ryu (Wednesday), Kershaw (Thursday) and Wood (Friday).
· Scott Kazmir is making a rehab start with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Monday. Roberts said the plan is for him to go three innings and 45 pitches before going four innings and 60 pitches in his next rehab start.
