LOS ANGELES _ The chants of "M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P" descended from the stands with the Eagles' "Hotel California" blaring in the background in the 10th inning Wednesday night.
The combination has taken a spot on this summer's soundtrack at Dodger Stadium, signaling Cody Bellinger is approaching the batter's box and the opposition is in danger. In the 10th inning Wednesday it meant the inevitable _ another walk-off win for the Los Angeles Dodgers _ was possible, that with one swing Bellinger, a front-runner for National League MVP, could supply another round of late-inning magic.
And Bellinger provided some more, hammering a fastball from Yoan Lopez into the right-field pavilion to give the Dodgers a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks and their fifth straight walk-off victory at home. The five straight walk-off wins tie the major league record last done by the Oakland Athletics in 2004 and moved the Dodgers (59-29) to 36-9 at home. For Bellinger, it was his 29th home run and second on the night.
"I love the result and I can appreciate the drama, but we just don't feel like we're out of it," manager Dave Roberts said. "You get to a point where you expect to win. When you're at home and obviously when you've played through eight, you expect a walk-off. You just wonder, who is going to be the next hero? Tonight it was Cody's night."
The man of the hour agreed.
"I think it's just pretty crazy what we've been doing," Bellinger said. "There's not too many words you can say to describe it. Being part of it is special.
"I was just ready to hit a good pitch. I was feeling good at the plate today and just tried to take advantage of it. He just threw me one that I could handle.
"I was feeling good today. When you're feeling good, you try to take advantage of those days."
The latest edition of late-game theater began in the ninth inning with the Dodgers down by a run after Kenley Jansen gave up a home run to Carson Kelly in the top of the inning.
Enrique Hernandez crushed a fastball from Greg Holland off the wall in right field for a double. Two pitches later, Matt Beaty smacked a line drive down the first base line to score Hernandez and knot the game at 4-4. Beaty took second base on a wild pitch that bounced in front of home plate and past catcher Kelly with Justin Turner pinch-hitting.
Turner struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch he thought was outside, bringing Russell Martin, another pinch-hitter, to face Yoshihisa Hirano. Martin walked and so did Joc Pederson, loading the bases for Alex Verdugo.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo decided it was time to check on his reliever before it was too late, allowing Verdugo's walk-up song _ Vicente Fernandez's "Volver, Volver" _ to breathe, stoking the crowd once again. They thought another walk-off win was inevitable. Instead, Verdugo grounded into an inning-ending double play.
"Even leading up to that, to tie the game in the ninth inning was big. With what Walker (Buehler) did tonight, there was a lot of good things," Roberts said. "Just the at-bats we took against Holland and Kike leading off that inning, Beaty getting him over, all that stuff that led into that, set the stage for Cody. That's why he's an MVP.
"Definitely exhilarating. We're going to enjoy this like the other five consecutive walk-offs. Reset tomorrow."
Making his first start since he was named a National League All-Star, Buehler resembled one. He wasn't as dominant as his last outing at Dodger Stadium, when he compiled a career-high 16 strikeouts without a walk in his first career complete game, but he held the Diamondbacks to three runs across seven innings. He threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 30 batters he faced. All were either a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball or cutter. Peppering the strike zone with that frequency helped produce nine strikeouts without a walk.
But Merrill Kelly, while not matching Buehler's ability to overpower, matched Buehler for six innings. The right-hander retired 12 straight hitters after surrendering three runs in the second inning.
Bellinger generated the first of the three runs with a 436-foot blast to dead center field. The home run was Bellinger's 28th, tying him with Gil Hodges and Duke Snider for the most home runs before the All-Star break in franchise history. Los Angeles tacked on two more runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Buehler and Pederson to take a 3-0 lead.
"I didn't set goals," Bellinger said. "I was feeling positive and confident going into the season and into spring training, but I did not expect to do this. I don't think anyone would expect to do it. But, like I said, I was feeling pretty good in spring training, so I just tried to translate that into the season."
Arizona began chipping away at the lead in the fourth inning. Christian Walker hammered a 97-mph fastball over the wall in center field for a two-run homer, continuing his atypical power flashes against the Dodgers. It was Walker's 15th home run this season and fifth off Dodger pitching. Seven of his 21 career home runs have come at the expense of Los Angeles.
The Diamondbacks tied the score in the seventh inning with another two-batter burst. The second iteration came with two outs, beginning with Jarrod Dyson's double down the left-field line. One of the fastest players in baseball, Dyson sprinted home on Ketel Marte's single to shallow right field, easily beating Bellinger's throw.
The score remained knotted until the ninth inning, when Jansen entered after a five-day layoff. He retired the first hitter, Nick Ahmed, with one pitch, inducing a fly ball to center field, before Kelly's homer.
