Jim Cella
LOS ANGELES—The Dodgers scored the final four runs of Game 2 against San Francisco but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 5-run deficit – and five innings of no-hit pitching from Johnny Cueto – and Los Angeles lost 5-4. The Giants hit three solo home runs in building a 5-0 lead through 5.5 innings of play. The Dodgers almost overtook San Francisco in the bottom of the sixth with a fluke triple from Kiké Hernández and a 3-run homer from Justin Turner but the rally would come to a screeching halt courtesy of the Giants’ bullpen who retired nine of the final 10 LA batters they faced.
The loss ends a 3-game win streak for the Dodgers and drops their season mark to 10-5. San Francisco stops their 2-game skid and is now 7-9.
GAME RECAP: Clayton Kershaw made his second start of the season and it was the exact opposite of the 5.2-inning gem he pitched against Arizona on Aug. 2. Things went south from the start as Kershaw had to free himself from a 2-out, bases loaded jam in the first. He recorded a 1-2-3 second inning but then gave up solo homers to Austin Slater and Mike Yastrzemski in the third. Kershaw rebounded in the fourth with his best inning of the night – a 2-strikeout, 3-up-3-down affair. Unfortunately for Kershaw, the fourth-inning momentum would wouldn’t carry over to the fifth. He gave up another solo shot to Slater, who entered the game with only nine career HRs, and then allowed back-to-back doubles by Donovan Solano and Yastrzemski to conceded the fourth run of the game and force manager Dave Roberts to go to the bullpen.
The Dodgers’ offense struggled in their second time seeing Cueto. Cueto, who pitched the Season Opener and lasted only 4.0 innings, retired the first six LA batters he faced on Saturday. The first base runner for Los Angeles came courtesy of a Turner lead-off walk in the third and then Cueto sat down nine consecutive batters.
The Giants built the lead to a 5-spot in the top of the sixth when Hunter Pence singled off Brusdar Graterol to start the frame. He went to second on a Darin Ruf walk and then advanced to third on a slow-rolling ground out off the bat of catcher Chadwick Tromp. Light-hitting Mauricio Dubon would drive in the eventual game-winning run when he plated Pence on a sacrifice fly to right field.
The game finally got interesting in the bottom of the sixth. Hernández led off and hit a routine fly ball to Pence in left field. Pence never saw the ball off the bat, took five steps toward the infield and had the ball land way over his head – just shy of the warning track. Pence’s fielding blunder cost Cueto his no-hit bid and sent Hernández to third with his first triple of the year. Hernández would score on the very next at-bat when Austin Barnes grounded out to shortstop. Cueto, still reeling from not having a no-hitter, came unraveled. He walked Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger and then Turner connected on his first home run of the year – a 400-foot shot into the left field seats.
Cueto was pulled from the game after Turner’s at-bat and the Giants’ bullpen responded by retiring eight straight batters before Turner broke the streak with a 1-out walk in the ninth. Unfortunately, the game-tying hit never materialized. Max Muncy popped out to third base and then AJ Pollock hit a warning track fly ball to left center to end the game.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
NO PLACE LIKE THE ROAD: The loss dropped the Dodgers’ record at Chavez Ravine to 3-3 this season (all against SF). Los Angeles is 7-2 on the road in 2020.
OBSCURE STAT STUFF: The sixth-inning long ball by Turner marked the 10th straight game that LA has gone yard at least one time. The Dodgers have hit 23 HRs in that span and are 7-3 in those contests. Los Angeles is now 1-3 in 1-run games in 2020. Last year the Dodgers were 27-22 in games decided by a single score.
TOP 4 FRUSTRATION: The Giants outhit the Dodgers 10-2 on Saturday. Of those 10 San Fran hits, nine were recorded by the Top 4 hitters in their lineup. Slater, Solano, Yastrzemski and Evan Longoria all had multiple-hit games and drove in four of the team’s five runs. They were a combined 9-for-19 (.474) with Solano leading the way on a 3-for-5 night. The rest of the Giants’ lineup was a combined 1-for-17 (.059).
YOU CAN’T SPELL KERSHAW WITHOUT A K: The one bright for Kershaw was that he posted his second straight 6-strikeout performance. Kershaw struck out at least one batter in each of the first four innings on Saturday. He finished the game by going 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits and walked one. Kershaw threw 85 pitches on the night which was four more than he tossed in his first game at Arizona. Kershaw now has 2,476 career strikeouts which is third most in Dodgers’ history. He needs 11 more to surpass Don Drysdale’s career total of 2,486 and move into second place on the all-time list. Don Sutton is the LA record holder for Ks in a career with 2,696.
NOT SO HOT HOME RUN HISTORY: Kershaw allowed three home runs on Saturday which marked the first time in his career that he has allowed three long balls against the Giants.
OFF THE SCHNEID: Turner’s long ball in the sixth was his first home run of the season. Last year it took Turner 29 games before he hit a yard shot. He has 121 career home runs and the three RBI he recorded on Saturday brings his career total to 484.
MR. 997: Turner’s home run was also his 997th career hit. He needs three more base knocks to reach 1,000. Turner has now hit safely in three straight and five of the seven games in August. He is hitting .250 for the year.
THE STRUGGLE BUS IS REAL: To say Barnes is struggling at the plate is a bit of an understatement. He went 0-for-2 on Saturday and doesn’t have a hit in his last 16 at-bats. Barnes is 2-for-22 (.091) on the year and is the only Dodger without a home run on the year.
ON DECK: The Dodgers and Giants will look for a series winner when they square off on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. Walker Buehler is scheduled to make his third start of the year for the Boys in Blue. He will be looking to rebound from his outing at San Diego on Monday when he gave up three runs on three home runs in 5.0 innings of work. In his career, Buehler is 17-5 with a 2.72 ERA and a 0.983 WHIP when is working on five days of rest. He is also 4-0 in his four career starts vs. the Giants and has a 2.96 ERA with 31 Ks in 24.1 innings pitched. Buehler is slated to face righthander Kevin Gausman. Gausman, who is in his eighth MLB season, is 0-1 with a 5.27 ERA and a 1.390 WHIP in 2020. He is coming off a loss at Colorado where he went 5.1 innings and gave up three earned runs. Gausman has only made two career starts against the Dodgers and has compiled an 0-1 record with a 6.08 ERA and a 2.025 WHIP in 13.1 innings pitched
