Field Level Media
Sep 29, 2018
Justin Turner broke a tie with a two-run home run off Madison Bumgarner in the fifth inning Friday night, sending the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the host San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game series.
With the win, the Dodgers (89-71) were able to remain one game behind Colorado (90-70) in the battle for first place in the National League West. The Rockies beat Washington 5-2 on Friday night.
The Dodgers also were able to go two games up on St. Louis (87-73) with just two games remaining in their duel for the second wild-card spot in the NL. The Cardinals were beaten 8-4 by the Chicago Cubs earlier in the day.
Los Angeles has a chance to clinch no worse than a wild-card berth on Saturday when Clayton Kershaw duels Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez.
Left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu (7-3) pitched Friday's win, limiting the Giants to one run and four hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Ryu, who had shut out his previous two opponents, had his streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings snapped in the second, when Nick Hundley led off with his 10th home run of the season to put San Francisco on top 1-0.
After a Manny Machado RBI single got the Dodgers even in the third, Turner's two-run homer provided the difference-making runs with one out in the fifth. It followed a single by Enrique Hernandez.
The homer was Turner's 14th of the season.
Five relievers followed Ryu to the mound and retained the 3-1 lead over the final three innings, with Kenley Jansen working a scoreless ninth for his 38th save despite hitting Brandon Crawford with a pitch with one out.
The game ended when Aramis Garcia grounded into a double play, the fifth turned by the Dodgers in the contest.
Bumgarner (6-7) allowed all three Los Angeles runs in his six innings. He gave up seven hits and one walk and struck out six.
Hernandez scored twice and had three hits for the Dodgers, who had entered the series on a two-game losing streak.
Yasmani Grandal added two hits for Los Angeles, which out-hit San Francisco 9-6.
Joe Panik and Garcia collected two hits apiece for the Giants (73-87), who have lost seven of their last eight games.
--Field Level Media