DO-OR-DIE TIME
Giants pitching hit hard in a Game 4 loss that sets up winner-take-all showdown at Oracle Park
LOS ANGELES >> The division race was epic, the playoff matchup is historic and the next game between the two best teams in the majors is bound to be one for the ages.
With a 7-2 loss to the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS on Tuesday in Los Angles, the Giants brought the first modern-era playoff series between the rivals back up the coastline for a winner-take-all Game 5 on Thursday night at Oracle Park.
After stunning the Dodgers and ace Max Scherzer with a 1-0 win in Game 3 on Monday, the Giants returned to the diamond Tuesday with a chance to secure one of the biggest victories in the history of a rivalry that shifted from New York to California back in 1958.
Their effort fell completely flat.
All-Star right-hander Walker Buehler returned on short rest and completed 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball for the Dodgers while Giants veteran Anthony DeSclafani recorded just five outs in a performance that required manager Gabe Kapler to treat a crowd of more than 52,935 fans to a parade of ineffective relievers.
“I don’t think we’re going to spend a lot of time dissecting this game as a team,” Kapler said candidly.
A Giants lineup that’s relied on its pitching staff to cover up recent struggles couldn’t hide on Tuesday as the offense squandered multiple early opportunities to put pressure on a Dodgers team that seems to be at its best when its back is against the wall.
After the Giants won Game 3 1-0 on Monday, Kapler immediately announced DeSclafani would start Game 4 on Tuesday. The right-hander had posted a 7.33 ERA in six starts against the Dodgers this year, but the Giants believed the six shutout innings DeSclafani threw against Los Angeles on September
3 were more indicative of his abilities than the performance on May 23 in which he gave up a careerhigh 10 earned runs over 2 2/3 innings.
In his first career playoff start, the seventh-year veteran failed to get out of the second inning.
They’re just putting good at-bats together, have a good game plan, I don’t have a particular answer,” DeSclafani said when asked about his struggles against the Dodgers. “It’s just I just try and stick to my game plan and attack and I guess I haven’t made enough adjustments.”
DeSclafani allowed a single to Corey Seager and a RBI double to Trea Turner in the first inning before giving up three more hits and a sacrifice fly to Chris Taylor in the second inning. Everyone inside Dodger Stadium could tell the contact was loud, the swings were sharp and the night was destined to be short for a pitcher who performed at an All-Star-caliber
level against every opponent other than the Dodgers this season.
“We have seen the Dodgers take some good swings against DeSclafani in the past, and mostly here was just acknowledging that, recognizing it, and making a decision that we were going to grind our way through it and try to stay in the game with our bullpen,” Kapler said.
Unfortunately for Kapler, the relievers he turned to after his starter didn’t fare much better.
The Giants opened the third with the hope rookie Kervin Castro could potentially throw multiple innings, but he walked two of the three batters he faced before Kapler removed him in favor of Jarlín García. García’s command was shaky as he issued a walk and missed over the plate against Taylor, but a leaping LaMonte Wade Jr. catch in front of the left field wall saved multiple runs and kept the Giants’ deficit at
2-0.
In the fourth inning, Betts hit a ball that no Giants outfielder could track down.
After Buehler reached on a García fielding error, Betts drilled a fastball on the outside corner over the right field wall to put Los Angeles ahead 4-0.
García’s struggles again compelled Kapler to go to the bullpen as Dominic Leone became the team’s fifth pitcher to appear in the first four innings. Like others who pitched before him, command issues cost Leone a run as he issued a leadoff walk in the fifth before a Cody Bellinger single and a Betts sacrifice fly against Tyler Rogers extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-1.
The Giants mustered a pair of runs on RBI groundouts, but the lineup will almost assuredly need to perform better on Thursday when the Dodgers turn to left-hander Julio Urías, who was the winning pitcher in Game 2 of the series.
With their season on the line, Kapler and the Giants will call on 24-year-old Logan Webb, who was one of the majors’ best pitchers in the second half and the starter who led them to wins in their NL West clinching victory on the final day of the regular season and in Game 1 of this series.
After tossing 7 2/3 shutout innings against the Dodgers on Friday, Webb will pitch the biggest game of his life for his third consecutive start. The Rocklin native has aced each of his last two tests, but Thursday is the first time he’ll pitch when the Giants truly have no margin for error.
The 107-win Giants and 106-win Dodgers have pushed each other to the brink. As the teams head back to San Francisco, one of the most compelling chapters in the rivalry’s history is destined to give us all an unforgettable ending.
“A lot of these guys have played against one another for a long time,” catcher Buster Posey said. “I mean this is why you play. It really it boils down to competing and execution and it’s pretty much as simple as that.”