Field Level Media
Mar 31, 2018
Joe Panik hit Kenley Jansen's second pitch for a home run leading off the ninth inning Friday night, giving the San Francisco Giants a second straight 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles in a game that featured brilliant pitching performances by starters Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood.
Panik also delivered the only run of the Giants' Opening Day win, homering off Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in the fifth inning.
He waited until Wood had left after eight one-hit innings in the rematch, once again smacking a difference-making homer into the seats in right field at Dodger Stadium. This time it was against the Dodgers' closer, Jansen (0-1).
Cueto and Wood dominated.
Seeking the Giants' first no-hitter against the Dodgers since Rube Marquard in 1915, Cueto retired the first 18 Los Angeles batters before Chris Taylor blooped a single to right field to open the seventh of a scoreless game.
The veteran rebounded to get Corey Seager to ground into a double play, then retired Yasiel Puig on a flyball to left field on his 97th, and what turned to be his final, pitch.
Cueto, who pitched into the eighth inning just once last season, struck out four and did not walk a batter in his seven shutout innings, allowing just the one hit.
He left for a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth.
Wood, who would have had the fourth-best ERA in the National League last season (2.72) if he'd pitched the required number of innings, retired the first nine Giants he faced and pitched around three Dodgers errors to shut out San Francisco for eight innings.
Like Cueto, he left a scoreless game having not walked a batter, giving up just the one hit in eight innings. He struck out five.
Neither starter got a decision.
Left-hander Tony Watson (1-0) got the win after pitching a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts. Hunter Strickland earned his second save in two days by getting the Dodgers in order in the ninth, also striking out a pair.
The Dodgers made four errors in the game, three by third baseman Logan Forsythe.
Forsythe's first miscue -- a two-base throwing error -- ended Wood's perfect game in the fourth. The Giants got Austin Jackson to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Panik, but Wood then struck out Andrew McCutchen and got Buster Posey to ground to shortstop.
--Field Level Media