The Sports Xchange
Sep 14, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO -- Cody Bellinger backed the strong pitching of right-hander Yu Darvish with an RBI triple and a two-run home run Wednesday night, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1.
Darvish pitched seven shutout innings and combined with right-handers Brandon Morrow and Walker Buehler on a five-hitter. The Dodgers, who sealed a playoff berth with their Tuesday victory over the Giants, lowered their magic number to win the National League West to seven.
Los Angeles (94-52) retained a 10-game lead in the NL West over the Arizona Diamondbacks (84-62), a winner at home against the Colorado Rockies.
By winning Tuesday and Wednesday after taking an 11th straight loss Monday in the opener at AT&T Park, the Dodgers recorded their first series win since Aug. 21-24 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Rebounding from three poor efforts, Darvish limited the Giants to three singles in his seven innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.
The Giants advanced just one baserunner into scoring position against the Dodgers newcomer, that occurring after Hunter Pence led off the game with a single and took second on Jarrett Parker's infield out.
However, Pence got caught between second and third on a Denard Span comebacker to Darvish. After Pence was tagged out in a rundown by Justin Turner, the Dodgers third baseman threw to second to get a sliding Span, who was trying to advance.
Darvish (9-12) had lost his three previous starts, getting bombed for 13 runs and 19 hits in 12 1/3 innings.
Morrow pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning before Buehler lost the shutout by allowing a two-out RBI single in the ninth to Parker, scoring Pence, who had singled and taken second on defensive indifference.
After Parker strolled to second uncontested, Buehler struck out Span to clinch the Dodgers' first series win in San Francisco since September 2014.
The Giants' ninth-inning run was the only scoring after Bellinger belted a pitch from Giants left-hander Matt Moore (5-14) into the San Francisco Bay with Turner aboard in the fifth.
The rookie finished with two of the Dodgers' six hits and scored two of the four runs.
All six of the Los Angeles hits went for extra bases, including four doubles.
Pence and Parker had two singles apiece for the Giants, who totaled just five hits in the game, none for extra bases.
Bellinger's triple came in a two-run first inning. After his hit plated Corey Seager, who had been hit by a pitch, Bellinger trotted home on a double by Logan Forsythe.
Bellinger's homer, his 37th of the season, came in the fifth inning and was his first "Splash Hit," the 42nd by a Giants opponent in AT&T Park history.
Coupled with teammate Chase Utley's bomb into the bay Tuesday night, the Dodgers became the first visiting team to accomplish the feat on back-to-back nights since the Arizona Diamondbacks' Adam LaRoche did it singlehandedly in August 2010.
Bellinger's homer also scored Turner, who had doubled, to stake Darvish to a 4-0 lead.
Moore was pulled two batters later, having allowed four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out five.
NOTES: Giants LHP Matt Moore began the night having allowed the highest batting average to left-handed hitters (.373) among all lefty pitchers with 12 or more starts. The homer he served up to 1B/OF Cody Bellinger, a lefty hitter, was the eighth he has surrendered this season to a lefty, the most in the majors among southpaws. ... The Giants honored Hall of Famer RF Frank Robinson before the game as part of African American Heritage Night. Among other things, Robinson was a basketball teammate of NBA star Bill Russell as a multi-sport prep standout at McClymonds High in Oakland. ... The Giants scratched 1B/3B Ryder Jones (illness) from their starting lineup about an hour before game time and inserted 3B Pablo Sandoval. Jones was able to pinch-hit in the sixth inning and struck out.