SAN FRANCISCO — A bad plate of sushi or room service left Cody Bellinger weakened enough that he was held out of the starting lineup. Bellinger managed to summon enough strength to spark a key rally when the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers needed him most.
Bellinger overcame a bout of food poisoning to score the go-ahead run on Kyle Farmer’s pinch-hit double in the 10th inning, and the Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak.
“I tried to use him sparingly,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It was the right time for him and he mustered up enough energy to leg that double. That was good to see.”
Bellinger entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth and started the winning rally with an opposite-field double to lead off the 10th against Pierce Johnson (0-1).
With two outs and runners on first and second, Farmer hit a drive over right fielder Andrew McCutchen’s head to score Bellinger with the go-ahead run that gave the Dodgers a split of a rain-shortened two-game series. Farmer has three RBIs in 31 career at-bats, with the other two coming on an 11th inning double last July to beat the Giants.
“I just keep finding myself in these situations,” Farmer said. “I sit on the bench all day just watching and saw how the guys were fighting all game.”
Josh Fields (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win and Kenley Jansen struck out three batters in the 10th for his first save of the season. Jansen got pinch-hitter Brandon Belt looking to end the game with Hunter Pence on second base.
“Tough call at the end, it’s a ball, but that’s the way the game goes sometimes,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “The call goes against you, the ball doesn’t bounce your way. But it certainly was not a strike.”
Clayton Kershaw was sharp through seven scoreless innings and appeared to be headed to his first win of the season for Los Angeles before running into trouble in the eighth. Pence started the rally with a leadoff single and Kelby Tomlinson followed with a perfectly placed bunt single that ended Kershaw’s day after 92 pitches.
Buster Posey, who was held out of the lineup after catching 14 innings Saturday, entered as a pinch hitter and tied the game with a single off JT Chargois.
Los Angeles escaped the inning with no further damage, but Kershaw ended up with a no-decision. He has received just two runs of support in three starts this season.
The Dodgers squandered a prime scoring chance in the second when Austin Barnes hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded, but broke through against Ty Blach two innings later when Matt Kemp drove in Yasiel Puig from second with a soft single to right.
Blach avoided further damage by getting Logan Forsythe to hit into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and third.
The Giants threatened in the sixth with back-to-back, one-out singles from pinch-hitter Gorkys Hernandez and Austin Jackson. Joe Panik followed with a sinking line drive to right field that Puig caught on his knees. Hernandez ran on the play either because he lost track of the outs or thought the ball was going to fall. Instead, he was easily doubled off second for the final out of the inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: LHP Alex Wood also is dealing with food poisoning and had his next start pushed back a day to Wednesday, with Hyun-Jin Ryu moved up a day to Tuesday against Oakland.
HIGH STANDARDS
Kershaw wasn’t impressed with himself despite allowing just one run and six hits in seven-plus innings. He credited his defense for his success, including good plays by Puig, Barnes at second base and left fielder Joc Pederson.
“I got a lot of lineouts,” he said. “I needed a few guys to bail me out today. That’s awesome. It’s a team game. But there’s definitely some things I could have done a little better.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers: Los Angeles opens a two-game series at home against Oakland on Tuesday with Ryu (0-0) taking on Sean Manaea (1-1).
Giants: San Francisco opens a three-game home series against Arizona with Derek Holland (0-1) getting the start against Zack Godley (1-0).
