LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their overall season success last weekend, hosting NL West division opponent San Francisco Giants in a four-game home series. Even though the Dodgers took the series, Sunday’s final game went down to the wire.
It took a little bit for both teams to get started in game one. The Dodgers and Giants were scoreless through two innings. With a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third inning from Enrique “Kike” Hernandez, the Dodgers broke the score open 1-0. J.D. Martinez added to the Dodgers’ score after hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, his 30th of the season, increasing the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0 heading into the fifth inning.
Emmet Sheehan put on a show for the Dodgers during game one, pitching four innings without allowing a single run and striking out nine Giants batters. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled Sheehan from the game after walking in the Giants’ first run in the top of the fifth inning. During the top of the sixth, with the Dodgers still winning 2-1, Joc Pederson tied the game for the Giants with his 15th home run of the season. In the bottom of the sixth, Martinez responded by hitting a sacrifice fly to push the Dodgers ahead of the Giants 3-2.
After two wild pitches from Giants pitcher Luke Jackson in the bottom of the seventh inning, both Chris Taylor and James Outman scored, giving the Dodgers a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the eighth, Martinez added another run to the scoreboard after hitting an RBI single increasing the Dodgers lead 6-2. Taylor then hit another RBI single later in the inning, putting another run on the scoreboard and increasing the Dodgers lead 7-2.
Evan Phillips closed out the game in the top of the ninth inning, securing the Dodgers win 7-2. Dodgers relief pitcher Shelby Miller picked up the win, pitching one inning and striking out two batters. Giants pitcher John Brebbia picked up the loss.
The Giants did not hesitate to respond in game two. After both teams were scoreless through three innings, Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski hit a two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning to break the lead open 2-0. The Giants then added another run, widening their lead to 3-0, after Thairo Estrada hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, his 13th of the season.
Giants pitcher Sean Manaea shut the Dodgers offense down. Manaea pitched seven innings with no runs, only giving up three hits.
After seven scoreless innings, the Dodgers finally scored after a Freddie Freeman RBI single, narrowing their deficit to 3-1. But the Giants tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth inning after Tyler Fitzgerald hit his first-ever big league home run. The Giants then closed the game out at 5-1 with Camilo Doval picking up his 38th save of the season and evening up the series at 1-1.
During game three, it was all about the Dodgers. Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw took the mound for five innings, striking out five batters and only allowing two hits. Dodgers relief pitchers Joe Kelly, Michael Grove and Caleb Ferguson all followed after Kershaw was pulled. The Dodgers pitching staff didn’t allow the Giants to score the entire game, with the three relievers tallying six strikeouts through four innings with no hits.
On the offensive end, the Dodgers bats were hot. In the bottom of the second inning, Martinez got the Dodgers score started by hitting his 31st home run of the season. Martinez then followed up in the bottom of the third inning by driving in two runs on a double, increasing the lead to 3-0. Freddie Freeman joined the mix in the bottom of the fifth inning with his own RBI double, making the score 4-0. Max Muncy then followed Freeman later that inning with an RBI single to make it 5-0. The game was steady after the fifth inning until Mookie Betts added two more runs to the Dodgers total in the bottom of the eighth. The Dodgers took game three with a score of 7-0 and Kershaw picked up his 13th win of the season.
In game four, the Dodgers and Giants went down to the wire. The Dodgers started off the game strong in the bottom of the second inning. James Outman opened up the game for the Dodgers with a two-run homer, giving the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead. The Dodgers and Giants went scoreless for the next two innings. The Giants then upped the score in the top of the fifth when Lamonte Wade Jr. hit a two-run homer to tie the game 2-2. Both teams went scoreless for the next four innings, with each team going deep into their bullpen. After nine innings, the score was still tied 2-2.
Heading into extra innings, the Giants had a chance to win the game but failed to convert. In the bottom of the tenth inning, the Dodgers’ second base runner Ahmed Rosario advanced to third base after pinch hitter Kolten Wong grounded out. With one out, Taylor drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single to walk it off in the tenth inning.
The Dodgers improved to 96-59. They’ll hit the road this week for a four-game series with the Colorado Rockies starting Tuesday.