Jim Cella
LOS ANGELES—For the second straight game the Dodgers’ offense failed to come up with a clutch hit in the late innings and lost to San Francisco. Los Angeles didn’t push a runner past second base in seven of the nine innings in the final game of the series and fell 3-1 to lose for the second straight game. The Dodgers are now 2-2 on the season which matches their start to the 2018 campaign when they also split with the Giants to begin the year.
GAME RECAP: The storyline was strikingly similar to Saturday as the Giants used single-run innings to take a multiple-run lead into the final frames. The Dodgers scored their lone run in the third inning when Cody Bellinger’s hard-hit ground ball to right field scored Mookie Betts from second base. The Dodgers would only have one runner advance into scoring position in the next four innings before squandering a bases-loaded chance in the eighth inning. Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger were the only two Dodgers with more than one hit in the game. Both players came away with a pair of singles on the night.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY: The loss marks only the second time in the past two seasons that the Dodgers have lost back-to-back games to their northern rivals. The only time LA dropped two straight against the Giants last year was at home on Sept. 6-7.
DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN: Second baseman Kiké Hernández factored in both of the game-deciding, late-inning at-bats in the last two games – and both happened in the eighth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. On Saturday, he stepped to the plate in that situation with the Dodgers trailing 5-3 and grounded out to second. On Sunday, night he came to the plate with Los Angeles trailing 3-1 and grounded out once again – this time to third base. Hernández is now hitting .190 (4-for-21) in his career with the bases loaded and two outs in an inning.
HE SAID IT: “You gotta dig a little deeper than what hand the guy throws with.” —Dodgers manager Dave Roberts when asked about the Kiké Hernández at-bat with two outs in the eighth which featured a righty-righty match-up with Giants’ reliever Tyler Rogers knowing that he had left-handed hitting Joc Pederson on the bench.
SOLID, BUT NO STYLE POINTS: Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urías pitched 5.0 innings and only allowed one run. While his first outing of the season produced solid numbers, he had to battle for all 15 outs. Urías didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning during his start and had a runner on second in three of the five frames. The key for Urías was not allowing an extra base hot and limiting the number of hard hit balls.
POWER OUTAGE: The two teams combined for 16 hits on the night but it wasn’t until AJ Pollock’s leadoff double in the ninth that there was one of the extra-base variety. The last time the Dodgers played in a game at Dodger Stadium without an extra-base knock was on Apr. 27, 2016 when LA lost 2-0 to Miami and the teams had 10 hits – all singles.
MR. J-T: Justin Turner went 2-for-3 in the series finale and is the only Dodger who has hit safely in all four games in 2020. Turner has also posted three straight multiple-hit contests. Turner is 7-for-15 on the year and leads the team in hitting with a .467 average. Turner now has 990 career hits and needs 10 more to reach the 1,000-hit milestone.
4-TIME GOLD GLOVER’S GOT IT: Mookie Betts was the Defensive Player of the Game for the Dodgers. Betts, who won four Gold Glove awards in six years in Boston, made nine putouts in right field on Sunday. He has now made 15 put outs in the first four games without making an error. Last year, Betts made only two errors in 332 chances playing right field (132 games) and center field (17 games) for the Red Sox.
RELIEF PITCHERS, GET USED TO THEM: The Dodgers used five more relievers on Sunday and ran 16 total out of the bullpen in the 4-game series. Scott Alexander and Kenley Jansen were the last two LA relievers to get the call out of the pen. Alexander, who hadn’t pitched in a game for the Dodgers since the beginning of last June, pitched a scoreless eighth inning and only gave up a lone walk. Jansen made his season debut in the ninth and threw 10 total pitches, seven for strikes, to record a 1-2-3 inning.
RELIEF PITCHERS, GET USED TO THEM PART DEAUX: The Giants made the Dodgers 16 relief appearances look like the 1980’s as they used 24 total pitchers in the four games, including a series-high seven on Sunday.
I’M STILL HERE COACH: The only position player who hasn’t stepped on to the game field this year for the Dodgers is Matt Beaty. Walker Buehler is the only pitcher that hasn’t been in a game but he is scheduled to start in the series opener at Houston on Tuesday.
THIS DAY IN DODGER HISTORY:
1951 – Jim Russell becomes the first player in in MLB history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in two different games. Russell recorded his second 2-HR game on July 26 in a 9-1 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
1991 – The Dodgers are no-hit by Montreal starting pitcher Mark Gardner for nine innings but beat the Expos 1-0 in the 10th frame at Dodger Stadium. Darryl Strawberry singled home Lenny Harris for the game-winning run. Current Dodger broadcaster Orel Hershiser went the first 6.0 innings and only gave up one hit. He was relieved in the seventh by Kevin Gross who pitched through the ninth before giving way to Jay Howell who recorded a 1-2-3 10th frame to get the win. It was the first time that the Dodgers had been no-hit at home for nine innings since 1938.
ON DECK: The Dodgers will have their first day off of the season on Monday before heading to Houston for a match-up between the 2017 World Series opponents. The Dodgers lead Houston 389-325 in the series between the two teams. Walker Buehler is scheduled to see his first action of the 2020 summer season. Buehler was 14-4 last season with a 3.26 ERA. He started 30 games and struck out 378 batters in 329.0 innings of work. Buehler is 1-0 lifetime against the Astros. That win came in the 2018 season when he held Houston to two runs over 5.1 innings in a 3-2 Dodger win at home on Aug. 5. The Astros won the first two games of the year and are 2-1. They are scheduled to send out lefthander Framber Valdez in the opener. Valdez is entering his third season and owns an 8-8 career record with a 4.60 ERA. He was 4-7 with a 5.86 ERA in 2019. He has never faced the Dodgers.
