Jim Cella
LOS ANGELES—A pair of 3-run homers in the final three innings propelled the Dodgers to a 6-2 win, and a series victory, over San Francisco. Los Angeles trailed 2-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh but a 3-run blast by AJ Pollock put the Dodgers in front 3-2 and then Mookie Betts hammered a 3-run shot in the eighth to cement the victory and give LA the 2-1 series win over the Giants.
The Dodgers have now won nine of their past 12 games and are 11-5 on the season. Los Angeles is one of three clubs in the NL to reach the 11-win mark for the year. The Oakland Athletics lead all of MLB with 12 victories. San Fran loses for the sixth time in the last eight games and is 7-10 in 2020.
GAME RECAP: It was another late wake-up call for the Dodgers’ offense. On Saturday night, it took LA six frames before they were able to get on the board with a multiple-hit inning. On Sunday, the Dodgers waited even longer before canceling the snooze button and getting up to score runs. On Saturday it was the variety of looks and pitches from Johnny Cueto that baffled the Dodgers’ hitters. On Sunday it was the increased speed from Kevin Gausman. Los Angeles only managed two hits in the first six innings of play off the right hander. The game changed in the seventh when Cody Bellinger hit a 1-out single to center field. Giants’ manager Gabe Kapler gave Gausman the hook after 80 pitches and decided to bring in Tyler Rogers. Justin Turner greeted Rogers with an 0-2 single to center to put runners on first and second. Max Muncy followed by striking out on four pitches and it looked like Rogers would get out of the inning with the Giants still leading 2-0. The game changed on a 3-2 pitch to Pollock who pulled an a ball into the left field seats to stake LA to the 3-2 lead. Betts would double the score an inning later when he pummeled the very first pitch that reliever Shaun Anderson threw in the game. Bett’s HR to left field sailed 383 feet and scored Will Smith and Kiké Hernández. Smith started the inning with a walk and then Hernández followed with a double that rattled around in the left field corner.
San Francisco scored their only runs in the game in the fifth on their very first hit of the game. Pablo Sandoval coaxed a leadoff 3-2 walk against Walker Buehler and then Buehler beaned Austin Slater. Mike Yastrzemski brought home both runs with a single to center off of a 2-2 off-speed pitch.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
SUMMER SERIES SUCCESS: The Dodgers claimed their fourth straight series win of the year after opening the 2020 summer by matching wins against the Giants in the opener. LA is now 4-0 in series this year and hasn’t dropped a series in the past 10 dating back to last year when they finished the season by going 5-0-1. The last series they lost was against the Giants at home on Sept. 6-8.
OBSCURE STATS STUFF: The Dodgers have hit at least one home run in 11 straight games and have 23 long balls in that stretch. The Giants scored first in all three games in the series. Los Angeles is now 5-3 in games when their opponent scores first.
RETURN TO RALLY TIME: The win on Sunday marked the first time in 2020 that the Dodgers won a game in which they trailed after six innings play.
MIXED BAG FOR BUEHLER: Buehler only allowed the one hit to Yastrzemski in the fifth in his 5.2 innings of work but it was his sporadic control that put a damper on his third start of the year. Buehler walked a season-high four batters. He had only issued four free passes in his previous 8.2 innings combined. The walks also added extra pressure because all four came against the first batter of an inning. Buehler only had 1-2-3 frames in the second and fourth as he pitched from the stretch for the majority of the afternoon. He relied heavily on his fastball which he was able to spot in key situations and ended the day with six strikeouts which is also a season high.
HE SAID IT: ”Most of my misses were high arm side and that is very fixable. Knowing that these misses were high arm side gives me comfort.”—Walker Buehler’s assessment on what led to his four walks and sporadic control.
TO STRETCH OR NOT TO STRETCH: Buehler faced a total of 10 Giants’ batters when pitched from the full wind-up and walked four of those. He didn’t allow a walk in the 12 hitters faced while pitching out of the stretch. Buehler threw 49 strikes in the game – 18 of which came from pitching in the wind-up and 31 came out of the stretch.
HE SAID IT 2: “He did want to work on the stretch in his last bullpen and that’s what he did.” — Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts on why Buehler might have had more success out of the stretch on Sunday.
YOU WANT RUNS, WE GOT ‘EM: The Dodgers put up another 5-plus run total on Sunday. The Dodgers have scored at least five runs in nine of their 16 games this year. They are tied for the MLB lead with 87 runs scored on the season and are alone atop the run differential list. LA has scored 37 more runs than their opponents on the year. The +37 mark is four better than Colorado.
THANKS FOR THE EXTRA PITCH: Pollock’s game-winning long ball came on a 3-2 count. Pollock actually thought he had walked on the 3-1 pitch right before his HR because he couldn’t hear home plate umpire Adam Hamari’s strike call. Pollock returned to the batter’s box and gave LA the 3-2 lead on the next pitch.
HE SAID IT 3: “I wasn’t really arguing (with Hamari) but it was so loud. The cardboard cutout guys were going crazy today. It worked out really well.” —Pollock on the confusion/situation of the strike 2 call.
YOU WANT EXTRA BASES, HE’S GOT ‘EM: Pollock went 2-for-3 on the day and hit the game-winning homer in the seventh. The yard shot was his fourth of the year which ties him for the team lead with Muncy and Betts. Last year Pollock had 15 HRs in his 308 at-bats (20.5 HR/AB). He has 45 at-bats this year which gives him a long ball in every 11.25 trips to the plate. Pollock is second on the team in extra base hits. He has 14 base knocks on the year and eight have been for extras. Pollock leads the team in slugging percentage (.667) and OPS (1.021).
YOU’LL FIT IN FINE: Betts cranked his fourth long ball of the year in the 3-run eighth and has hit safely in 11 of the 13 games he has played in for the Boys in Blue. More importantly, he has endeared himself to the Dodger faithful by being successful against that team from the North. Betts has at least one hit in five of the seven games against the Giants this year with two homers and four RBI. He is now hitting .281 for the season.
MR 998: Turner went 1-for-4 on the day to extend his hitting streak to four games and his career hit total to 998.
PEN-TASTIC: The Blue Pen came through another scoreless outing and picked up another win. Jake McGee recorded his first victory for the Dodgers when he got the last out of the seventh and then the first two batters of the eighth. McGee continues to be one of the six Dodgers’ relievers who hasn’t given up an earned run on the year. McGee handed the baton to fellow 0.00 ERA-mate Blake Treinen who recorded the final out of the eighth to earn his fourth hold of the year. Kenley Jansen hurled a 1-2-3 ninth inning in the non-save opportunity. Caleb Ferguson was the fourth pitcher who saw action on Sunday. He came in for Buehler in the sixth and fanned all three batters he faced in his seventh appearance of the year.
ERRORS, WE AIN’T GOT ‘EM: The Dodgers posted another bagel in the error column on Sunday. They didn’t commit an error all weekend against the Giants and have only made one defensive miscue in their eight games in the month of August. Los Angeles has only four errors on the year and their .993 fielding percentage leads the NL and is second in MLB.
ON DECK: The Dodgers welcome another familiar foe to Dodger Stadium when they host San Diego for a 4-game set starting on Monday at 6:40 p.m. LA took 2-of-3 from the Padres last week in San Diego. Dustin May, Ross Stripling, Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw are the probables for the Dodgers in the series. May will get the opener and is coming off a win over the Padres last Tuesday. He went 6.0 innings, allowed two earned runs on three hits and fanned a career-high eight. San Diego will counter with Garrett Richards. Richards got his first loss of the year on Wednesday when he went the first 5.0 innings and allowed four earned runs in the Dodgers’ 7-6 win.
