Panik lifts Giants to second straight 1-0 win over Dodgers
Panik’s second solo shot in two days has the Giants rolling in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Southern California is occupied by producers, actors, actresses and skilled technicians who can make any dramatic scene come to life.
But no wordsmith in the world could write the script Joe Panik is authoring.
With the score deadlocked at 0-0 in the top of the ninth inning, Panik stepped to the plate against Los Angeles Dodgers’ closer Kenley Jansen and promptly deposited a solo home run over the right field fence.
For the second straight day, the San Francisco Giants won 1-0. For the second straight day, Panik starred in the San Francisco Giants’ best picture.
“That’s pretty remarkable,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s an amazing feat for him. For anybody. It couldn’t have come at a better time, too.”
Before Panik’s Opening Day home run off Clayton Kershaw lifted the Giants to a stunning win, San Francisco had gone 58 years without defeating the rival Dodgers’ 1-0 on the strength of a solo long ball.
The last time they did it, Felipe Alou took Sandy Koufax deep at Candlestick Park to fuel a 1-0 win on September 3, 1960. On Panik’s shoulders and sweet swing from the left side of
the plate, they’ve accomplished the feat two days in a row.
The 50,000-plus fans who packed Dodger Stadium on each of the first two days of the regular season spent much of their evenings chiding Giants’ catcher Buster Posey and even reserve infielder Pablo Sandoval. Come Saturday, Panik knows what to expect.
“It’s a good feeling when you come into Dodger Stadium and you hit a home run and they start booing you in the ninth inning,” Panik said. “That means you’re doing something right.”
With Kershaw and Jansen on their staff, the Dodgers might boast the most impressive starter-closer combination in all of baseball. After suffering through a 98-loss season and battling through the most challenging campaign of his professional career, Panik doesn’t sound like he cares about resumes. This season, it’s all about results.
“For me as a hitter, two home runs in two games against those guys, it’s a good feeling,” Panik said. “It’s not something you’re really trying or expecting to do.”
Thanks to Panik’s heroics, the Giants became the first team since the 1943 Reds to win the first two games of their season 1-0. Thanks to the work of Johnny Cueto and the team’s pitching staff, the Giants opened a year with back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1994.
While Panik was busy crafting an epic, Cueto played the role of best supporting actor. He was nearly the one who stole the show,
too.
When Dodgers’ leadoff hitter Chris Taylor stepped to the plate in the top of the seventh inning, Taylor and the rest of the Los Angeles lineup stood between Cueto and history.
Taylor wielded his sword, defending the Dodgers’ honor by lining a single into right field for a base hit.
He was the first baserunner of the night against Cueto.
Somewhere, Matt Cain smiled. In his first year of retirement, the 13-year Major League veteran remains the only Giants’ pitcher to ever notch a perfect game. Many of the players who made his June 13, 2012, start so special were on the field Friday.
With Taylor’s single, the list of 15 Giants’ pitchers who have thrown no-hitters would not have company, either. But soon, it was back to business for Cueto.
He induced a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Corey Seager and forced Yasiel Puig to fly out to right field. Over seven innings, he faced the minimum.
“I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again today, I know I got the big hit, but without Johnny going seven strong and with Tony and Strick, we wouldn’t be standing here,” Panik said.
After throwing 97 pitches, Bochy informed Cueto his night was over. Through two games, the Giants’ starting staff still doesn’t have an earned run average.
The ERA compiled by Los Angeles’ lefthanded starters Kershaw and Alex Wood is minuscule, considering Kershaw allowed just a solo home run over six innings Thursday and Wood bettered Cueto with eight shutout innings Friday.