Dodgers spank Giants to even series

SAN FRANCISCO — So apparently reports of the Dodgers’ demise are premature. In a must-win game at Oracle Park, the Dodgers finally discovered their offense punch again after two and a half games of sleepy performances. In the sixth inning, the Dodgers exploded for four runs, and kept tacking on the rest of the night to cruise to a 9-2 victory against the San Francisco Giants in Oracle Park. Having secured a split up north, the series now returns to Dodger Stadium with the Dodgers a much more enviable position than they were in 24 hours ago.

Dodgers get to Gausman early

Kevin Gausman got the start for the Giants in this one, and the Dodgers jumped all over him early. Gausman was struggling to land his split-finger where he wanted it, and instead was serving up a lot of cookies to the Dodger hitters in the early going. Gausman pitched a scoreless first, but there was a lot of solid contact in the inning, so when the second inning rolled around, the Dodgers were ready to pounce. The fun started when Wild Card hero Chris Taylor doubled to left center. It was Taylor’s first at-bat of the NLDS, and he would go on to figure in a lot of big plays in this game.

After the Taylor double, Cody Bellinger struck out for the second out of the inning. Then, Giants manager Gabe Kapler got a little too cute for his own good. Rather than facing AJ Pollock in the eight hole, he intentionally walked Pollo to get to the pitcher and Julio Urias. Maybe Kap didn’t read the scouting report on our lefty, because Babe Urias can rake. He stroked a run-scoring single to right and the Dodgers were on the board. Mookie Betts followed up Urias with an RBI single of his own, and with their little two-out rally, the Dodgers were up 2-0.

Angel Hernandez gifts the Giants a run

In the home half of the second, the Dodgers were undone by some bad umpiring. The notorious Angel Hernandez refused to ring up Wilmer Flores on what was clearly the third strike, and instead sent him to first base with a lead off walk. Then the Giants played a little small ball to get him home. Flores took second on a Brandon Crawford single, third on a flyball out to deep center, and then scored on another flyout to right. One terrible call, one single, and a couple of flyballs and the Giants pulled to within one.

Middle innings tight as both pitchers shove

After the second inning, Gausman really settled down for the Giants. He pitched three straight scoreless innings and got the game into the sixth with his team only trailing by a single run. It was quite a comeback for a guy who gave up three hits and two runs on the first time through the batting order.

However, the Giants were unable to score, mostly because Julio Urias wasn’t having any of it. He too put up three straight zeros in a typically solid Urias outing. Though he was getting outs, he was having trouble putting away hitters early in the game, which led to an elevated pitch count early on. He got better as the evening progressed, but in a tight, must-win game, he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the sixth. However, his night was just what was needed for the Dodgers after a listless performance on Friday. His line for the night on just 77 pitches: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 K.

Explosion in the sixth as Belli, Pollo come through in the clutch

If the Dodgers end up winning this series, folks will look back at this sixth inning as a possible turning point. Still locked in a pitchers’ duel going into the inning, the Dodgers were desperate to put some insurance on the run, given the Giants penchant for comeback wins this year (most in MLB with 43).

Trea Turner led off the inning, with Gausman into his third time through the lineup. And after struggling in the Wild Card and Game 1, Turner came through with a solid double to the left field corner. After a Justin Turner strikeout, Will Smith drew a walk from Gausman that ended his night. Kapler lifted his started and turned the ball over to Dominic Leone, who had had a solid season for the Giants. But tonight wasn’t Leone’s night. He started off by walking Chris Taylor to load the bases for Cody Bellinger and Chris Pollock.

Both these guys had been the subject of much wailing and gnashing of teeth on social media over the last 24 hours. Which was understandable I suppose, as they both looked pretty lost at the plate in their first half-dozen plate appearances of the series. However, they both came through big time. Bellinger stepped in and ripped the first pitch he saw from Leone. He mashed a center-cut heater that damn near cleared the centerfield fence for a grand slam. Instead, it hit against the wall for a two-run double.

Not to be outdone, AJ Pollock stroked a solid double into the left field corner on the very next pitch that score two more Dodger runs. In the space of two pitches, the game had been blown wide open. It was now 6-1. This outburst highlighted just how much production the Dodgers got from the lower third of the batting order on Saturday. After going 1-for-19 with no RBI in the first two postseason games, the 6 to 9 hitters in the the batting order when 6-for-13 in this one, including 4-for-6 with RISP. Toss in 5 RBI and 6 runs scored and you can see pretty quickly why the Dodgers prevailed in this one.

Mookie with the play of the day

Overall the Dodgers’ defense looked as good as it as all year in this one. Trea Turner made a couple of exceptional plays in the infield, the outfield defense was solid all around. However, the game-changing play of the day came in the bottom of the sixth courtesy of Mookie Betts. With men on first and third with two out, reliever Joe Kelly gave up a single to Brandon Crawford that dropped in front of Mookie Betts to score a run. However, Wilmer Flores tried to go first to third on the play, and nine times out of ten, he makes it to the bag easily. However, this time it was Mookie Betts on the play. He let the ball bounce in front of him, but then fielded it, whirled around, and fired a strike to Justin Turner at third base. Flores was out by half a step, the inning was over, and the Giants would never threaten again. Mookie Magic.

Dodgers pile on in the eighth

Though the outcome seemed pretty certain at this point, the Dodgers weren’t done roughing up the Giants’ pen. In the eighth inning, Will Smith homered on the first pitch of the inning off new reliever Zach Littel, and the rout was on. After the Smith dinger, the Dodgers scored two more a four singles in the inning, including RBI knocks from both pinch hitter Matt Beaty and Corey Seager.

With the big lead, Dave Roberts was able to save some of his high leverage pieces for another night. Neither Kenley Jansen or Blake Treinen got into a game yet in the series, so they will be well rested for the homestand starting on Monday. Treinen was up in the pen when the score was close, but when the Dodgers added on in the eighth, his night was over. Instead, it was Joe Kelly, Corey Knebel, Brusdar Graterol, and Phil Bickford who finished up the game for the Dodgers, with each pitching one inning. Kelly didn’t look great tonight, but the other three were very solid in their outings.

Back to the Ravine

The Dodgers accomplished what they wanted to do in San Francisco. They broke serve of the Giants, and now they have the home field advantage. Plus, because they pitched Max Scherzer in the Wild Card game, the Dodgers have their best second half pitcher going up against the Giants Number Three starter on Monday night. Not sure who it is yet, but it will probably be Alex Wood or Anthony DeSclafani. Either way I like those odds. Things get a little murky once we get to Game 4, but we’ll let Friedman and Roberts deal with that next week. For now, we can just enjoy the fact that the Dodgers have a great postseason win under their belts and are returning home with a chance to win the series on Tuesday night in front of 50,000 screaming Dodger fans.

There are worse fates. Let’s do this…