Puig has his way as Dodgers split series
Giants offense sputters, again, in 9-0 trouncing
LOS ANGELES >>The only thing worse than a brazen enemy is a successful one, and Sunday night, Dodgers’ right fielder Yasiel Puig was both.
The animated, adrenalized adversary didn’t record a hit during the first three games of the seasonopening series, but tortured San Francisco throughout a 9-0 Giants’ loss that forced a series split.
After the Giants took the first two games of the weekend with narrow 1-0 victories, their pitching staff failed to remain perfect on Saturday and Sunday, a sin that by no means should guarantee a losing effort.
Except in both cases, it was a sin the Giants’ offense couldn’t forgive no matter how hard it tried.
“It’s going to be a good offense, I know it is,” manager Bruce Bochy
said after suffering a second straight shutout loss. “It was a rough series for the boys. The Dodgers put up a lot of zeroes against us.”
While Bochy’s club was busy anchoring runners in scoring position to their respective bases, Puig emerged as the Dodgers’ catalyst, creating the first run of the game with a mix of determination and will power coupled with a Giants’ miscue.
After Giants’ starter Chris Stratton induced a routine flyout to left field for the second out of the fourth inning, Dodgers’ shortstop Corey Seager challenged Hunter Pence’s arm in an effort to take third base.
Seager arrived in plenty of time to beat the throw, but shortstop Brandon Crawford cut it off to pick off an overzealous Puig trying to advance from first to second.
When second baseman Joe Panik gloved Crawford’s throw, Puig retreated toward first base. While doing so, Puig did his best impression of a theatrical third base coach, waving Seager home with the promise he would distract the Giants with a rundown.
Remarkably, Puig accomplished his goal.
Panik faked a throw and tried to chase Puig down on his way to first. The Giants’ hero from the first two games of the season never tossed the ball to first baseman Brandon Belt, and by the time Puig raced back to the bag, Seager had darted home to reward Los Angeles with a 1-0 lead.
While the Giants’ offense couldn’t buy a run if it tried to, their defense handed one away for free.
“We didn’t quite handle that,” Bochy said. “Give him credit, Puig got back in time. I’m sure if Joe had a do-over, he would have gotten rid of that ball a little sooner.”
It wasn’t the only fun Puig had at his rivals’ expense.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers’ right fielder smoked a double to the gap that split the distance between Austin Jackson and Andrew McCutchen, rolling to the wall and carrying the good feelings the Giants created during the first half of the weekend with it.
By that point in the game, a 2-0 lead felt like a 10-run deficit given how uninspiring the Giants’ offense had become.
The trilogy of players the club signed to revamp a lowly offense --Jackson, McCutchen and Evan Longoria -- combined to finish the weekend series 2-for43. While Jackson and McCutchen each recorded a hit, Longoria admitted he’s still feeling the pressure as he’ll carry an 0-for-15 line back to AT&T Park.
“It’s just a little bit magnified right now,” Longoria said. “Opening series, against the Dodgers, a lot of people looking for me to come out of the gate hot including myself and obviously I’m not happy with the way that went.”
In three of the first six innings, the Giants managed to push a runner into scoring position against Dodgers’ left-hander Rich Hill, but no player could spark an offensive surge.
The Giants’ best chance came in the top of the sixth when Buster Posey pounded a double off the left field wall to lead off the frame, but the hitters who followed couldn’t bring him in. Even after Posey stole third base without a throw, a Belt line drive was snagged with a nifty slide by none other than Puig to end the inning.
After Stratton departed, Josh Osich surrendered a two-run home run to Cody Bellinger, which essentially sealed a game that was already trending in the Dodgers’ favor.
At the end of the weekend, the Giants finished 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position. Over 36 innings of baseball, the Giants’ offense managed just two runs, both of which came on Panik home runs. The offensive ineptitude marked the first time in franchise history the team failed to score more than one run in each of their first four games of a season.
“Obviously it hasn’t been easy sledding for me,” Longoria said. “But the fact of the matter is we won two out of four on the road, and you know, that’s what we take out of it. For me, I’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve got a lot of games left.”