Offense takes the night off as Dodgers fall to the Giants
SAN FRANCISCO — Four games ago, the Dodgers were on pace to win 128 games. They would win the National League West in 20 or 30 games?
Now, for the first time this season, the Dodgers do not alone own first place in the NL West.
They are tied for first place with their rivals: the San Diego Padres.
On a cold, intermittently rainy night in San Francisco, the Dodgers’ bats were cold and most productive when not in use. In a 3-1 loss to the Giants, the Dodgers scored their only run by collecting four walks in a hitless inning.
In the first inning, the Giants scored Yoshinobu Yamamoto for three runs before he recorded the second out. Yamamoto recovered by retiring the next 11 batters he faced, but the Dodgers lost for the third time in four games.
The luster of the Dodgers’ most historic rivalry has faded, as has the Giants’. San Francisco has posted a winning record over the past nine seasons, and chants of “Let’s Go Dodgers!” ” at Oracle Park were more spirited than the chants of “Beat LA!” until the last two rounds.
The Dodgers collected three hits, never more than one per inning. They had a great chance to score in the seventh, when Alex Freeland walked and Shohei Ohtani singled to put the potentially tying runs on base with two outs.
Kyle Tucker then struck out for the third consecutive at-bat.
In 28 at-bats this season with runners in scoring position, Tucker is hitting .214, with no extra base hits.
The walk extended Ohtani’s on-base streak to 53 games, tying Shawn Green for the longest streak in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Franchise record: 58, by Hall of Famer Duke Snider, for the 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers.
Yamamoto finished his work for the evening by removing the side. He completed seven innings for his second straight start, something he didn’t accomplish until September of last season.
He was replaced on the mound by Tanner Scott, whose manager Dave Roberts had said before the game that he could be the first choice in case of backup. In this situation, with the heart of the Giants’ order expected in the eighth inning and two left-handed hitters included, Roberts summoned the southpaw Scott.
Scott worked a scoreless inning, lowering his earned run average to 0.93.
The first round was ugly. The leadoff hitter singled, then advanced to second base on a throwing error by shortstop Hyeseong Kim. The second batter singled, the third batter walked, and the fourth batter singled on a run.
Casey Schmitt then hit a highly catchable ball to left-center field, where left fielder Teoscar Hernández and center fielder Alex Call attempted to catch it. Call did so, but he slammed into Hernandez and fell to the ground. He got up in time to throw the ball back into the infield, but the Giants scored a run on what was scored as a sacrifice fly, then another run on a dying fly ball that fell right in front of Tucker for a single.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a shaky first inning but pitched well afterward.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
That gave the Giants a 3-0 lead with one out, marking the first time in five starts this season that Yamamoto allowed more than two runs in a game. The next two outs were long outs, one on the warning track and one almost that far, balls that might have delivered extra base hits on a warmer night. After throwing 26 pitches in that first inning, Yamamoto threw 28 over the next three.
In all, Yamamoto allowed six hits in seven innings, striking out seven. His first five starts were all quality starts; no other major league pitcher has more than four.
