GIANTS OUT OF GAS
The Dodgers rock Gausman for four runs in a blowout to even the series at 1-1
SAN FRANCISCO >> Throughout the greatest division race in major league history, the margin between the Giants and Dodgers remained razor thin.
A 107-win Giants team outlasted a 106-win Dodgers team in large part because it won the season series between the teams by a single game. It should come as no surprise that a pair of evenly matched clubs split the first two matchups of the first modern era playoff series between the rivals, but the fashion in which the games have been decided hasn’t exactly left fans on the edge of their seats.
After the Giants took Game 1 of a best-of-five NLDS with a convincing 4-0 win on Friday, the Dodgers responded with a four-run sixth inning and a three-run eighth inning on Saturday to secure a 9-2 blowout victory in Game 2.
Right-hander Kevin Gausman was charged with four earned runs including two in a rough sixth inning, but the Dodgers did their most damage against relievers Dominic Leone and Zack Littell, who failed to command their pitches in their first career postseason appearances.
The biggest blow of the night for the Dodgers came from first baseman Cody Bellinger, who entered his sixth-inning at-bat 2-for53 with 25 strikeouts against the Giants this year. Bellinger looked lost in his first two plate appearances against Gausman, but with the bases loaded and a chance to extend a 2-1 Dodgers lead, the 2018 NL MVP crushed a double off the left center field wall to drive in two runs.
“(Leone) is as good of a weapon as we have in those type of situations,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “It didn’t work out tonight.”
After laying a fastball right over the heart of the plate to Bellinger, Leone watched left fielder A.J. Pollock
yank the next pitch he threw into left field for another two-run double.
The Dodgers added three more runs in eighth inning off Littell including one on a solo homer from catcher Will Smith to lead off the inning.
The Giants scored a run in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI single from Brandon Crawford, but they missed a chance to make a significant dent in the deficit due to two impressive plays by the Dodgers’ defense including one that came on a brutal baserunning miscue from first baseman Wilmer Flores.
After second baseman Trea Turner saved a run with a diving stop on a 4-6 fielder’s choice up the middle, Crawford dropped a single in front of right fielder Mookie Betts who collected the ball, spun and fired a perfect strike to third base to catch Flores trying to advance from first to third.
Betts’ throw was one of the best of the year from any outfielder at Oracle Park, but given the Dodgers’ four-run lead, there was no reason for Flores to challenge one of the top defensive outfielders in the sport.
“I just thought the ball was more in the corner,” said Flores, who said the decision to challenge Betts was his and not advised in the moment by any signal from third base coach Ron Wotus.
Gausman wasn’t able to carry the dominant form he showed in his last two regular season outs into Game 2 of the NLDS, but he battled back from a rough second inning to pitch into the sixth against a Dodgers lineup that showed much better plate discipline on Saturday.
After the Giants intentionally walked Pollock to face Urías with two outs in the second, the Dodgers starter blooped a go-ahead RBI single into right field before Betts, the leadoff man, drilled a line drive single into left field to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead.
“We’re trying to face the pitcher,” Gausman explained. “We’re not thinking he’s going to get a hit right there, I left the split up in the zone and he’s a really good hitter for a pitcher.”
The Giants scored their only run off Urías in the second inning when Flores drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on an opposite-field single from Crawford. After Flores took third on a long flyout from third baseman Evan Longoria, he raced home on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Donovan Solano.
Kapler considered pinch-hitting for Gausman as early as the second inning, but the Giants starter ended up hitting for himself with a runner on base and taking his next at-bat against Urías in the bottom of the fifth, even with the Giants trailing by a run.
“At that point, you may choose to use a pinch-hitter and see if you can get a base runner on for the top of the lineup,” Kapler said. “One thing that’s sort of unfortunate in that situation is you have all lefties to run up there against Urías. But it is an important decision point and perhaps you say in a clean inning for Leone, maybe things go a little bit different.”
Gausman didn’t last long into the sixth as he was pulled after three batters, but his replacement, Leone, didn’t fare any better. The Dodgers took a lead that proved insurmountable, which means the teams will head to Los Angeles having turned a best-of-five series into a best-of-three.