Giants beat Dodgers on throwing error in instant classic
SAN FRANCISCO — With tremendous range, an elite throwing arm and excellent defensive instincts, Cody Bellinger is one of baseball’s best defensive center fielders.
Hampered by a hamstring injury that kept him out of Sunday’s lineup, the Dodgers wanted to lighten Bellinger’s workload and had him make his first start of the season at first base on Tuesday at Oracle Park against the Giants.
The decision paid off ... for the Giants. During a chaotic eighth inning sequence, Bellinger attempted to catch Buster Posey leaning away from third base and wound up throwing a missile high off the netting along the third base line to send home the deciding run in a 2-1 Giants victory.
After Dodgers right-hander Blake Treinen walked the first two hitters he faced in the eighth inning, first baseman Darin Ruf bounced a potential double play ball up the middle. Los Angeles second baseman Max Muncy attempted to tag Giants right fielder Mike Yastrzemski in between first and second base, but Yastrzemski retreated to the first base bag, forcing Muncy to throw over to Bellinger at first to retire Ruf.
Bellinger likely could have doubled up Yastrzemski after getting the force at first, but instead of firing onto second base, he pump faked and wound up to get the lead runner, Posey, who had taken a wide turn around third base.
The throw looked exactly like one Bellinger would unleash from the outfield in an effort to retire a runner trying to score at
home plate. And for the Dodgers, that turned into a huge problem.
The catastrophic throwing error allowed Posey to score the go-ahead run and gave the Giants the edge they needed to win their third consecutive game against their division rivals. After closer Jake McGee finished off the Dodgers in the ninth, the Giants extended their lead in the National League West to 3.0 games, guaranteeing the club will hit the trade deadline in first place.
McGee’s 21st save of the season came in a 1-2-3 ninth inning that followed a tense eighth inning for righthander Tyler Rogers. After a Chris Taylor double put a pair of Los Angeles runners in scoring position with one out, Rogers induced a hard groundball directly to Ruf, who fired home to Posey to retire Luke Raley trying to score the go-ahead run.
The next hitter, Justin Turner, entered the night 4for-5 in his career against Rogers, but after falling behind in the count 2-0, the Giants’ reliever battled back and got Turner to fly out to end the frame.
With three plus pitches – a sinker, slider and changeup – starter Logan Webb continued his success against the Dodgers as he held them to just three hits over six dominant innings. Two of Los Angeles’ singles came in the fifth inning against Webb as Bellinger snapped an 0-for-28 stretch against the Giants to begin the season by sneaking a leadoff single through the hole into right field.
Two batters later, Billy McKinney looped a single into right center field to score Bellinger from second and give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Center fielder Austin Slater threw McKinney out trying to stretch his single into a double and Webb didn’t allow Los Angeles to extend its lead as he pitched around a two-out base hit from Muncy in the sixth to keep the Giants within a run.
Webb’s efforts were rewarded almost immediately as the Giants chased Dodgers starter Julio Urías in the bottom of the sixth inning after Austin Slater doubled and Posey tied the game with an RBI single to center field.
Third base coach Ron Wotus made an aggressive decision to send Slater, but the move paid off as Dodgers center fielder A.J. Pollock’s throw home was well off line.
With the Giants evaluating a variety of potential trades ahead of Friday’s deadline, acquiring another starting pitcher has been on the minds of Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris for awhile.
Hours before Tuesday’s three-game series against the Dodgers began, the Giants were rumored to be one of the desired destinations for Nationals ace Max Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who would immediately transform any club he joined. Though not likely, it’s possible Scherzer ends up in San Francisco, as trading for the top available starting pitcher would also prevent the Padres and Dodgers from adding the right-hander.