Giants still searching for win vs. Dodgers
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The Giants still haven’t figured out a way to solve the Dodgers.
Left-hander Alex Wood was tagged for four runs -- including three homers -- over six innings as the Giants dropped their fourth consecutive game to the Dodgers, 4-3, in Thursday night’s series opener at Dodger Stadium.
It was a familiar script for the Giants, who were swept at home by their archrivals in their first matchup last weekend at Oracle Park. The Dodgers have won 14 of their last 18 games against the Giants dating back to September 2019, outscoring San Francisco 104-43 over that span.
At 30-20, the Giants continue to hold one of the best records in the National League, but they slipped to third place in the NL West -- 1 1/2 games behind San Diego and one game behind Los Angeles -- following their latest stumble against the defending World Series champions.
Through their first 50 games of the season, the Giants are 0-4 against the Dodgers and 30-16 against everyone else.
“We’ve played really well up to this point,” Wood said. “They’re a great team. Sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap.”
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The Giants were held to three hits in a bullpen game for the Dodgers, though two were home runs by Evan Longoria and Donovan Solano. Solano briefly tied the game, 3-3, with his first home run of the year, but the Dodgers quickly regained the lead behind a solo homer from Max Muncy in the bottom half of the inning.
Wood got ahead, 0-2, before misplacing a sinker that Muncy hammered 420 feet out to right-center field for the go-ahead shot.
“That’s one of the ones I just got too cute,” Wood said. “I thought I could sneak 92 [mph] by Max. I probably should have gone somewhere else and maybe come back to it. He’s a great hitter. He’s one of the better hitters in the game. Two strikes doesn’t really matter to him, he controls the zone so well. I’ve just got to execute better against a guy like that.”
Wood, a former Dodger, went 5-0 over his first six starts for the Giants before incurring back-to-back losses against his old team. He struck out eight while allowing a season-high four runs on six hits on Thursday, bumping his ERA from 1.93 to 2.44 on the season.
Wood entered Thursday having allowed only three home runs in his first 42 innings of the year, but he saw that total double after struggling to keep the Dodgers’ sluggers in the yard in the opening game of this four-game series at Chavez Ravine.
“I think the home runs were the result of some misses, honestly,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “The Muncy heater, up and away on an 0-2 count, I think he’d probably like to get that elevated a little bit more, or down below with a breaking ball. The [Justin] Turner fastball was kind of the same thing. [DJ] Peters, maybe it was a pitch selection thing. Maybe he gets that up at the top of the zone, or up out of the zone with the heater, and it’s a different result.”
Longoria accounted for the Giants’ lone hit through the first five innings, but Mike Yastrzemski helped breathe some life into the offense by laying down a perfect drag bunt with one out in the sixth. That set the table for Solano, who subsequently drove a 1-1 fastball from lefty Victor González out to left field to tie the game.
It was the first home run González has allowed in 36 career appearances in the Majors, a positive sign for Solano, who entered Thursday 3-for-17 in five games since returning from the injured list on May 19.
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Trailing by one run in the top of the ninth, Kapler showed some urgency by having Buster Posey make his first pinch-hit appearance of the season against Kenley Jansen, who struck out the Giants’ catcher on a 95.7 mph cutter en route to locking down the win for the Dodgers.
“I think we can do a better job as an offense,” Kapler said. “Obviously, bullpen days are tough, and frankly, I thought they did a nice job of matching up. They were going to get the platoon advantage every time they brought a pitcher into the game. We tried to counter the best that we could, particularly there at the end once they didn't have any lefties left.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Giants, who are scheduled to face Walker Buehler, Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw over the remaining three games of this series in Los Angeles.
“We’ve gotten off to a good start,” Kapler said. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve done some good work, and obviously, we need to play better against the Dodgers.”