The Chicago Cubs thumped the Dodgers via a rating of 8-2 on Friday evening, and the sport marked the return of outfielder Cody Bellinger to Dodger Stadium. Bellinger, who spent the primary seven seasons of his MLB profession with the Dodgers and received the 2019 NL MVP award with them, signed with the Cubs after being non-tendered via L.A.Â
Bellinger stays a highly regarded determine amongst Dodger enthusiasts, and certainly they had been taking a look ahead to greeting him a heat ovation. They gave him one pregame, and the appreciation surged once more in the second one inning as Bellinger approached the plate for his first plate look as a visiting participant. As Bellinger quickly realized, even though, that is the jurisdiction of MLB’s new pitch clock:Â
Yes, that is strike one on Bellinger as he receives a status o from the Dodger Stadium devoted. Thus a ways, plate umps were fairly strict and letter-of-the-law in the case of implementing the brand new pitch clock, and Jim Wolf did not lower Bellinger any slack in this one.Â
By means of reminder, the pitch clock, which is new to MLB this yr after having been examined in the minors for a while, works like this:Â
The use of the pitch clock in 2023 is the key explanation why recreation occasions are down considerably from 2022 ranges, which is the purpose from the league’s viewpoint. That stated, the brand new rule has yielded a handful of awkward moments, and this one unquestionably qualifies.Â
Bellinger wound up being down 0-2 throughout the at-bat in query however labored the rely complete sooner than grounding out to Freddie Freeman to start with base. However, he’d later cross directly to notch an RBI double.Â