Cody Bellinger was benched for disciplinary reasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, and the outfielder clearly does not believe he deserved it.
Bellinger hit a ball into the gap in right field in the fifth inning, and it bounced into the deepest part of AT&T Park. Roberts felt that Bellinger should have ended up on third, but he instead jogged into second. The manager explained after the game that he has spoken with Bellinger about hustle plays multiple times this season.
Dave Roberts talks with @alannarizzo about why @Cody_Bellinger was removed from today's game. pic.twitter.com/QfenPNExfB
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 30, 2018
“We’ve talked about it before,” Roberts explained. “He plays every day. There’s certain expectations and a way that we have to play the game. When you don’t abide by that, we’ll get somebody in there that will. It’s pretty simple.”
It’s safe to say Bellinger disagreed with Roberts. When asked about being pulled, the 22-year-old mentioned how the swing took him to his knee and he did not want to risk making the third out at third with his team trailing by four runs.
For those who couldn’t see it this was Bellinger’s response to Roberts pulling him early (part 1) pic.twitter.com/50MVXMJ2hI
— Randi Radcliffe (@dodgers_randi) April 30, 2018
“We’re down four. I’m not trying to go to third and be the third out,” he said. “I forget who came up next inning and he hit a triple and was almost out at third. I didn’t want to be that. That was my reasoning.
“I’m gonna keep playing the way I do. I don’t think anyone can tell me how to play. I always play hard, so that’s that.”
The Dodgers are now 12-15 on the season, and Roberts recently made a bold claim about his team turning things around. Bellinger seems to feel like Roberts was trying to make a point with the team having played so poorly, but it sounds like the issue is a bigger one than that.
