HOUSTON _ The first time Cody Bellinger reached second base, he looked into the sky and screamed.
The second time he reached second base, he stared into the Dodgers dugout and pounded his hands together five times.
You want to know what it feels like to break out of a hitless World Series slump and reignite the Dodgers championship hopes with two swings and a prayer?
It was all in the kid Saturday night, with rookie Bellinger finishing what Alex Wood brilliantly started in leading the Dodgers to a 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 4 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park, knotting the series at two games apiece.
Wood was historic in nearly six one-hit innings, Bellinger was in the middle of both the tying and go-ahead runs, and now the Dodgers are once again the favorites in what has become a best-of-three sprint toward a title.
For one, the Dodgers have ace Clayton Kershaw pitching Sunday in Game 4.
Second, this ensures that not only will the series go back to Los Angeles next week, but that there will be potentially deciding Game 6 at Dodger Stadium on Halloween, and won't that be madness?
Finally, this was the Astros first postseason loss in eight games at Minute Maid Park, and it has left them looking extremely mortal, especially a bullpen that has become the pain that everyone predicted.
The win included redemption for the Dodgers bullpen, which completed a two-hitter. For goodness sakes, there was even a second World Series home by Joc Pederson to finish it.
Heck, there was also a comeback involved, as the Astros took the lead in the sixth inning on George Springer's home run against Wood, who was pitching a no-hitter at the time.
But then Bellinger, who was 0 for 13 with 8 strikeouts in the series, led off the seventh against Astros starter Charlie Morton with a double into left-center field. Bellinger screamed to the heavens, asked for the ball as a souvenir, and the party was just getting started.
Logan Forsythe, who entered batting .304 in the postseason, knocked him in with a single to left, only the Dodgers second hit in 18 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the series.
With the score still tied at 1-1 in the ninth, against Astros closer Ken Giles, Corey Seager singled, Justin Turner walked, and Bellinger gave the Dodgers the lead with another double to left-center field to score Seager, leading to the late flow of Dodger runs that ended with Pederson's blast.
The Dodgers have now washed away the pain of the Game 2 loss, righted the offense, steadied the pitching, and seem prepared to take the final two steps toward a title.
Just look at the kid.
