Depleted Dodgers drop first game of series to Giants

LOS ANGELES — Well, that could have gone better. Except for a couple of awesome swings in the bottom of the first inning, the Dodgers were unable to push anything across against Giants pitching on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. The Giants, meanwhile, jumped out to a 3-0 early in the game and then exploded for a four-run seventh inning to bury the chances for an LA comeback. The final count on a forgettable series opener: 7-2 Giants.

Giants get on the board quickly

The Dodgers lost the game, but didn’t quite have the “A” team out on the field for the series opener. With Gavin Lux the latest addition to the IL and Mookie Betts still nursing an injury, it wasn’t the greatest lineup that Dave Roberts sent out there. Tony Gonsolin got the start, and he was pretty roughed up in the first inning. Lamonte Wade Jr. led off with a double, and the Giants had the table set before most folks had gotten in from the parking lot. After Mike Yastrzemski struck out, Gonsolin got rocked. First, Buster Posey drilled a four-seamer over the right field fence for a two run shot. Then, the next hitter Wilmer Flores went back to back and just like that, it was 3-0 Giants.

Muncy and Turner answer for the Dodgers

In the bottom of the first, the Dodgers had some success against lights-out starter Kevin Gausman. Chris Taylor led off with a pop out, but then the Dodgers got rolling. Max Muncy completely obliterated the first pitch he saw from Gausman and sent it into the right field loge section after it managed to hook around the foul pole for an awesome home run. Muncy hit the ball about as hard as a human could hit it, 112 mph exit velo awesome solo shot.

Then, the very next hitter, Justin Turner took a whack at Gausman as well. He blistered a 3-1 pitch to center field for a second solo homer of the inning. And after back-to-back fireworks, the Dodgers got two more men on in the first, on a HBP and a walk. However, they were unable to cash in and went into the second down by one.

Good pitching in the middle innings

Though the Dodgers would have another scoring opportunity in the second inning against Gausman, they couldn’t convert. And so, the score would stay 3-2 for the better part of the evening. Though Tony Gonsolin only managed 3.1 innings, the pen was able to pick him up throughout the middle innings. And Dodger fans were figuring that once Gausman was out of the game, they might be able to get ahead against the Giants’ pen. With no scoring in the next five innings, the ball game went into the seventh looking like it might be another classic Dodgers/Giants nail-biter.

Seventh inning meltdown

And that is pretty much where the wheels came off the apple cart. The top of the seventh proved the Dodgers’ undoing. Phil Bickford gave up a couple of singles to lead off the inning, and things kind of went downhill from there. Victor Gonzalez came in to try to wriggle out of Bickford’s jam, but couldn’t get the job done. Gonzalez, fresh off the IL, was not sharp on Monday night. He gave up four Giants hits and by the time the inning was mercifully over, San Francisco had pushed four runs across to extend their lead to 7-2.

Not much offense for the Dodgers

And there it stayed for the rest of the night. In all, the Dodgers managed just four hits against the Giants’ staff, and didn’t really threaten much after the second inning. It just wasn’t the team’s night. Hopefully, this one can be a quick flush, and they can get right back at it on Tuesday. The only chance for the Dodgers to be in first place at the end of the series is if they can sweep the final three games of this four-game set. So, let’s do that, eh?