Dodgers watch one slip away
L.A. squanders several leads and loses in 11th on walk-off, two-run homer by the Giants’ Solano.
In a normal season, Tuesday night’s game between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants would’ve been just another meeting between rivals on opposite ends of the contention spectrum. The Dodgers began the night with the best record in the majors, eight games ahead of the fourth-place Giants. The Dodgers are World Series favorites. The Giants are still rebuilding. They reside in different stratospheres.
But this is 2020 and 2020 is strange. So Tuesday’s encounter was one between two potential playoff opponents. While the Dodgers entered the night as the top seed in the National League, the Giants, despite being two games below .500, were clinging on to the NL’s eighth and final spot in this year’s expanded postseason with 30 games to go. That means the teams are on pace to play a three-game first-round series in October.
Anything can happen in a threegame series, especially one between familiar foes, and the Dodgers’ 10-8, 11-inning loss in the opener of the three-game set Tuesday at Oracle Park was proof.
The clubs exchanged three-run home runs from Max Muncy and Brandon Belt in the first inning. Then the Dodgers (22-9) jumped ahead with another three-run burst in the third ignited by Corey Seager’s leadoff home run. Then their bats went silent as the Giants climbed back into the game. They tied it when Belt clobbered another home run in the ninth inning to give Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen his first blown save this season.
The homer set the stage for a strange 10th inning. With Justin Turner starting at second base as part of baseball’s new extra-inning rule designed to end games more quickly, Giants left-hander Jarlin Garcia and rookie catcher Joey Bart couldn’t get in sync. Garcia repeatedly shook off Bart. There was a mound visit, and a few times Garcia felt he needed to step off the mound.
The disconnection was costly. Bart was expecting a slider when Garcia threw AJ Pollock a fastball. The pitch bounced off Bart’s arm, giving Turner just enough time to dash to third base. Bart, scrambling, fired a hurried throw to third base that sailed into left field. Turner scored raced home to score during the disastrous sequence.
The Giants (15-16) responded by tying the score on Mauricio Dubón’s two-out chopper to Turner at third base. Turner, positioned in and off the line with a runner at third base, made the stop with an acrobatic dive but didn’t have time to make play.
Minutes later, Turner hit a slow roller with two outs between pitcher Tyler Rogers and Belt at first base. Rogers snagged the ball on the run but stumbled and fell as he tried to beat Turner to the bag. Turner sidestepped his last-gasp tag attempt and Will Smith, the designated baserunner, scored.
But that lead was squandered too. First, Evan Longoria lined an RBI single on a hanging breaking ball from Dennis Santana to tie the game. Two batters later, Donovan Solano smacked a two-run home run to end the game, extend the Giants’ winning streak to seven games and end the Dodgers’ streak at four games.
“A lot of weird stuff happened tonight,” Turner said.
Muncy, celebrating his 30th birthday, spotted Dodgers starter Julio Urías a lead before he took the mound on a night he needed all of the cushion.
Urías lasted four-plus frames Tuesday after logging just 12⁄3 innings in his previous outing. The lefthander gave up a three-run home run to Belt in the first inning, extending his first-inning troubles another turn.
He’s given up seven runs in the first inning in six outing this season. He’s yielded just four runs in his other 21 innings.
He exited Tuesday with no outs in the fifth inning after Belt clobbered an RBI double to continue an alarming trend for the Dodgers: Their starters have logged fewer than five innings in 10 of the last 18 games.
Wood takes a step back
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Alex Wood’s start in an intrasquad game Monday at Dodger Stadium was “positive” but not “overwhelmingly positive.” Wood threw three innings in the scrimmage, which mostly featured players from the team’s alternate training site at USC.
The Dodgers had planned on activating the left-hander from the injured list this weekend in Texas, but Roberts said his return was postponed. Wood didn’t join the team on their current road trip.
“Right now, where we’re at,” Roberts said, “I just don’t know when his activation or his role might be with us.”
That explanation indicates there’s a chance Wood could return as a reliever. That’s a question the Dodgers will also have to answer when they recall Tony Gonsolin, who has thrown 142⁄3 scoreless innings in three starts this season.
The right-hander was the other starting pitcher in Monday’s scrimmage — he allowed five runs in 52⁄3 innings — and is on the Dodgers’ fiveman taxi squad for their road trip.