Bellinger homers, Gonsolin gets 1st win as Dodgers top Cards

Rookie Tony Gonsolin pitched six shutout innings in his Dodger Stadium debut to get his first major league win as Los Angeles defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 8-0 on Monday night. Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson hit home runs for the Dodgers, who won their third game in a row and improved to 44-15 at home. The Cardinals suffered their third consecutive defeat.

Gonsolin, a right-hander making his third career major league appearance and second start, allowed only two hits, walked one and struck out seven. Gonsolin (1-1) opened with 4 2/3 hitless innings before St. Louis' Kolten Wong doubled off the wall in right-center field. The only other hit Gonsolin allowed was a two-out single to Dexter Fowler in the sixth.

Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha (6-5), making his first start since before the All-Star break, allowed six runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked two, struck out three and gave up both home runs. Wacha struggled from the get-go. Pederson grounded a sharp single into right field on the first pitch in the bottom of the first. Max Muncy drew a walk and, one out later, Bellinger hit a three-run shot to right field, his 37th home run of the season.

The Dodgers continued to pile on, scoring in four of the first five innings. Justin Turner singled with one out in the third, stole second and moved to third on Will Smith's two-out infield single. Corey Seager then hit a ground-rule double to left-center field, making it 4-0.

With two out in the fourth, Pederson homered to right-center field, his 24th. Muncy then walked, ending Wacha's night, and Turner hit a run-scoring double to left off Cardinals left-hander Adalberto Mejia. The Dodgers scored twice more in the fifth to increase the lead to 8-0. With one out, Seager lined a single over leaping shortstop Paul DeJong and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Mejia. Kristopher Negron then hit a shallow fly ball to right-center that dropped between outfielders Fowler and Jose Martinez. Matt Beaty then lined a two-run double off the glove of a leaping Martinez in right field.

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