Battle of MVP lefties ends in a draw; Giants beat Dodgers in the 9th 3- 2.
Bumgarner, Kershaw both sharp before Giants get controversial win
SAN FRANCISCO — The moves came in swift succession.
Clayton Kershaw, the reigning National League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player, departed for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. That batter off the bench, Alex Guerrero, hit a tying, two- run home run that knocked Madison Bumgarner, the reigning NLCS and World Series MVP, from the game.
In one sequence, both queens were off the chessboard.
The Giants made the most of the leavings in a wild ninth inning Wednesday night, with Joe Panik’s sacrifice fly giving them a 3- 2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT& T Park.
Buster Posey hit a one- out single, Justin Maxwell was hit
The Giants celebrate after beating the Dodgers in a wild ninth inning. The game was decided by the bullpens after strong outings by aces Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw. by a pitch that deflected off his arm, then struck the mask of A. J. Ellis and ricocheted off the catcher’s throwing hand. Ellis tried two warm- up throws that were hopelessly wild, and had to leave the game.
Dodgers left- hander J. P. Howell entered along with new catcher Yasmani Grandal, and that’s when things got really strange. Brandon Belt lined a single to left, and third base coach Roberto Kelly initially waved pinch runner Gregor Blanco home, then reversed course and threw up his arms while positioning himself two steps from the bag in foul ground. Blanco bumped Kelly as he ran through the base, and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly argued for interference, which wasn’t granted. With the bases loaded, Panik lofted a fly ball deep enough to give the Giants their first walk- off win of the season.
Afterward, the Dodgers did not immediately signal that they would file a protest. But they felt justice wasn’t done.
“( Kelly) blocked him,” Mattingly said. “The third base coach is not allowed to block the runner from continuing in. It’s obviously interference. They missed the call, basically. I don’t know who’s supposed to be watching, but they weren’t watching.”
Mattingly said third base umpire Fieldin Culbreth claimed he did not see the contact between Blanco and Kelly.
“I don’t know what the umpire’s responsibility is there, but I do know that there’s no way in baseball they allow the third base coach to basically block the runner from going forward, and that’s what happened tonight,” Mattingly said. “It’s obviously a missed call. It’s not reviewable.”
Blanco said he hadn’t ever before made contact with a base coach. Was he concerned he would be called out?
“No,” Blanco said. “I think it was kind of weird. But I was already stopping. It wasn’t like he stopped me. It wasn’t like he grabbed me.”
Kelly declined a request to speak with reporters.
Kershaw entered 8- 2 with a 0.83 ERA in 12 career games ( 11 starts) at AT& T Park. But in the third, the Giants put together the kind of focused at- bats and smart baserunning that they used to their advantage so many times last October. Joaquin Arias hit a ground ball single, Brandon Crawford walked and Bumgarner, after taking a mighty cut at the first pitch, managed to turn a twostrike, inside fastball into a sacrifice bunt.
Nori Aoki followed with a ground out to shortstop that scored Arias. Crawford, perhaps noting that both infielders on the left side had strayed far from third base, took off as soon as shortstop Jimmy Rollins threw to first base. Third baseman Juan Uribe received the return throw on the run, but Crawford’s hand reached the bag ahead of the tag.
Crawford scored when Matt Duffy followed with a bloop single to center field that fell a few inches in front of Chris Heisey’s diving attempt.
The Giants haven’t had many innings like that against Kershaw — or even full games, really. It marked just the 11th time in his 26 starts against them that they scored at least two runs.
They did not score on him again. Kershaw turned up the nasty factor on his slider while continuing to bust right- handers with his inside fastball and freeze them with his lollipop curve. He retired nine of his last 10 batters faced after Duffy’s single, striking out seven of them.
Bumgarner made the 2- 0 lead stand up until his 109th and final pitch of the night.
He held the Dodgers scoreless over the first six innings and leaned on some solid outfield defense while pitching around four singles and a walk.
But Ellis hit a one- out single in the seventh, and Bumgarner threw a 1- 1 fastball that hovered over the plate to Guerrero. The pinch hitter crushed it into the left field stands, and Bumgarner reacted with a deep knee bend on the mound.
It was the second pinch homer of the season for Guerrero.
So ended the first ever pitching matchup between a reigning regular- season MVP and a reigning World Series MVP.
Bumgarner and Kershaw hadn’t squared off since 2013; the Giants are 3- 1 when the two lefties collide.
“I did know that,” Bumgarner said afterward. “It’s a good feeling to know that because you’ve got to be on your game. There’s no way around that. Because you know he’s going to be.”
Giants manager Bruce n Bochy confirmed that Ryan Vogelsong will start in place of Jake Peavy in Thursday’s series finale. He’ll oppose Dodgers rookie righthander Mike Bolsinger .
nTravis Ishikawa is coming to the end of his minor league rehab assignment but he’s no closer to being activated. Ishikawa had a setback with his lower back and is quite sore, Bochy said.