Giants’ blunders allow Dodgers to claim opener
J.D. Martinez’s sacrifice fly on Thursday drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers capitalized on two physical and one mental blunder by the San Francisco Giants to win 7-2 in their series opener.
The Giants have dropped six of seven on their road trip to fall further out of the National League wild-card race.
Will Smith tripled off John Brebbia (3-1) and Martinez followed with the fly to right. Mike Yastrzemski was not that deep when he caught the ball flat-footed and then held it for a moment, apparently forgetting there were only two outs.
That gave Smith enough time to charge home for a 3-2 lead.
“Yaz made a very uncharacteristic mental error,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They usually don’t make those kind of mistakes.”
Two wild pitches by reliever Luke Jackson led to two runs for National League West champions the Dodgers in the seventh inning.
Jackson’s pitch went all the way to the backstop, allowing Chris Taylor to score from third after Taylor reached on third baseman J.D. Davis’ throwing error. James Outman, who doubled, moved up to third.
Outman scored on another wild pitch by Jackson, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2.
“You can’t turn it off and turn it on,” Taylor said. “It’s still the same objective, nothing changes just because we clinched. We’re trying to win games and head into the post-season the same way we started.”
Freddie Freeman singled in the eighth inning to tie his career high of 199 hits set last year. He then stole his 21st base of the season and scored on Martinez’s 95th RBI for a 6-2 lead.
Shelby Miller (2-0) got the victory with one inning of relief.
Former Dodger Joc Pederson homered into straightaway center off reliever Alex Vesia to tie the game at 2-2 in the sixth inning.
Dodgers rookie Emmet Sheehan retired the first 10 batters he faced, striking out eight. Wilmer Flores walked on a 3-2 pitch before Pederson grounded into a double play to end the fourth inning.
“I build confidence every start, but for sure the last two have been great,” Sheehan said. “That’s helped me a lot.”
Sheehan loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning. He hit Yastrzemski, then walked Marco Luciano and Blake Sabol backto-back. After a visit from pitching coach Mark Prior, Sheehan walked Tyler Fitzgerald on eight pitches to force in the Giants’ first run.
“When he got to that fifth inning there was a little bit of running low on fuel in the tank,” Roberts said.
With the bases loaded again, Vesia replaced Sheehan and struck out pinch-hitter Davis to end the long inning.
Sheehan allowed one run in 4-2/3 innings, struck out a seasonhigh nine and walked four.
He has not given up a hit in two starts and 10-2/3 innings against the Giants.
He has pitched himself into the Dodgers’ post-season conversation.
“He’s probably got one of the top fastballs in our organization,” Roberts said.
“He’s doing his part in kind of handling himself in big spots in big games against good teams,” he said.
Sheehan said he is ready “for anything they want me to do.”
The Dodgers led 2-0 on Kike Hernandez’s sacrifice fly in the third inning and Martinez’s 30th homer in the fourth.
Elsewhere, the Yankees beat the Blue Jays 5-3, the Tigers tamed the Athletics 7-3, the Rays edged the Angels 5-4, the Brewers blanked the Cardinals 6-0, the Phillies mastered the Mets 5-4, the Guardians outplayed the Orioles 5-2, the Braves battered the Nationals 10-3 and the Pirates sank the Cubs 8-6.