Dodgers, Rich Hill avenge a loss to Cardinals with a 5-1 victory, and bullpen is big

The backbone of the Dodgers, a team that has now won 10 of its last 12, is not a lineup teeming with sluggers. It is not a starting rotation headlined by the greatest pitcher of his generation. It is the bullpen, a group currently immune to the volatility that plagues others around the sport.

“The best in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it Monday morning.

The data support his assertion. The Dodgers’ relief corps entered the day leading the National League in earned-run average and strikeout rate, allowing fewer runs and missing more bats than any other unit. And that was before four scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory over St. Louis at Busch Stadium. In capturing a series opener, Roberts relied on the unheralded portion of his bullpen.

After five innings of one-run baseball from Rich Hill, Pedro Baez pitched the sixth. Sergio Romo escaped a jam in the seventh after a baserunning gaffe by a Cardinals rookie. Chris Hatcher handled the eighth. And new arrival Brandon Morrow, called up in the morning, touched 99 mph with his fastball in a spotless ninth.

“What makes us special is we all have our own identity,” Romo said. “We just complement the heck out of each other really, really well.”

As the Dodgers (32-20) embark on a seven-game trip across the Midwest, the relievers continue to reward Roberts for his faith in them. The bullpen has not allowed a run since last Wednesday. On Monday, the offense bruised Cardinals starter Mike Leake and supplied three home runs. Chase Utley hit his third in a five-day span. Cody Bellinger launched his team-leading 11th. Logan Forsythe added some insurance with a solo shot in the eighth.

The two starting pitchers met five days ago. Leake bullied the Dodgers for eight innings. Hill sputtered without control. He walked a career-high seven batters while bubbling with rage at the umpire. His anger caused Roberts to visit the mound to calm him down, and his lack of command caused Roberts to wonder if Hill’s blisters had resurfaced.

Hill (2-2, 4.09 ERA) pronounced himself healthy after the game. He blamed faulty mechanics, not damaged skin. He spent the next four days fiddling with his delivery to correct his timing. “You could see it today, it was much more crisp and clean when the ball was coming out,” Hill said.

Hill retired the first 10 batters he faced. He struck out four. By the fourth inning, his teammates had staked him a three-run lead.

In their last encounter, Leake limited the Dodgers to one run. The lineup doubled that total in Monday’s third inning. Utley pounced on a changeup over the middle and deposited it in the seats in right-center field. Corey Seager added a two-out RBI single.

An inning later, Leake fell behind Bellinger 3-0. The dugout gave Bellinger the green light. The fourth pitch was a belt-high sinker. Bellinger made the ball disappear. With nine homers in May, Bellinger has tied James Loney and Joc Pederson for the franchise lead in homers in a month by a rookie.

“We’re clicking right now,” Bellinger said. “It makes it easy for everyone when everyone’s doing a good job, and doing their job.”

St. Louis mounted an offensive without a hit in the bottom of the fourth. Hill harrumphed when umpire Mike Winters declined to award him a strike on a full-count curveball at the top of the zone. After walking second baseman Tommy Pham, Hill hit first baseman Matt Carpenter with a fastball. Pham scored on a sacrifice fly by third baseman Jedd Gyorko.

Hill waded into more danger in the fifth. He gave up a pair of singles. After Forsythe turned a double play, Hill faced Leake with a runner at third. Missing high and inside, Hill issued his second walk of the game.

The flirtation with disaster did not last long. Up came Dexter Fowler, who signed an $82.5-million contract with St. Louis this past winter, but entered the game with a .228 batting average. Hill left a curveball up in the strike zone. Fowler swung late. A pop-up landed in Adrian Gonzalez’s glove.

Hill had thrown 86 pitches. Roberts sent Baez in Hill’s place for the sixth. “With what I was seeing, I felt comfortable going with Petey at that time,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers added runs in the seventh and the eighth. The Cardinals botched an opening in the seventh. Romo gave up a one-out double to rookie Paul DeJong. Soon after, Seager fumbled a grounder. The ball bounced into left field. DeJong was waved home by third-base coach Chris Maloney.

“I didn’t break toward the ball right away,” Bellinger said. “If I did that, he probably wouldn’t have sent him.”

Instead, DeJong was cut down at the plate. The mistake allowed Romo to escape unscathed. Hatcher and Morrow operated without drama in pursuit of the last six outs.

In the morning, before the four scoreless innings, Roberts remarked about how his relievers eased his mind. The group reduces stress on the lineup. It bails out the starting pitchers. And on Monday, it showed how dominant this team can be when the rest of the roster clicks.

“Those guys did a hell of a job today,” Hill said. “There’s a reason they’re the best in baseball.”

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes