'Tugboat' turns in strong showing with 5 scoreless against Giants' rivals

LOS ANGELES -- Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson had already endeared himself to Giants fans by virtue of his fun nickname. But the 23-year-old left-hander likely won over even more hearts with a dominant start against the Dodgers on Sunday.

Wilkinson struck out a career-high six over five scoreless innings in his first appearance against the two-time defending World Series champions, providing a silver lining to a 3-1 loss that sealed a three-game sweep for the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

“Best one yet since being up,” Wilkinson said. “I really was just throwing all four pitches for strikes today. That was kind of the mindset going into today. Just compete with all four pitches, and I felt like I did a good job with that today.”

Sunday marked Wilkinson’s first start since Sept. 4, as he moved back into the rotation to help fill the void left by the injury to ace right-hander Logan Webb, who was shut down for the season with a right middle finger blister on Friday.

Wilkinson, the Giants’ No. 30 prospect per MLB Pipeline, proceeded to make quick work of the Dodgers. He walked none and allowed only three hits -- a pair of doubles, to Miguel Rojas and Josue De Paula, and a single to Freddie Freeman -- in the 76-pitch effort, lowering his ERA to 3.65 over seven appearances (five starts) this year.

“He was outstanding,” manager Tony Vitello said. “He was back on the starting deal, and to be honest with you, he didn’t have a lot of trouble to navigate because of how well he threw the ball.”

“Obviously, it’s cool to face a lineup like that and have some success,” Wilkinson said. “But when you make good pitches, good stuff will happen. It doesn’t matter who you’re facing. Attack, strike one -- that was kind of the mindset today.”

Wilkinson took the mound with a 1-0 lead thanks to the speedy Jonah Cox, who drew a leadoff walk in the top of the first, advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw and then stole third to get into scoring position with no outs. It was the 14th stolen base in 56 games for Cox, who later scored on Victor Bericoto’s RBI single to right field.

Still, the Dodgers quickly erased the deficit once Wilkinson departed the game. Tommy Edman tied it with a solo shot off Carson Seymour in the sixth before Kiké Hernández knocked in the go-ahead run with an RBI double off Sam Hentges in the seventh.

San Francisco’s lineup, meanwhile, had no answer for right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who struck out nine over 5 1/3 innings in a bulk-innings appearance for the Dodgers. The Giants’ offense was without virtually all of its regular position players on Sunday, as first baseman Bryce Eldridge missed his third consecutive game with a head laceration and right fielder Jung Hoo Lee was forced to depart the game after fouling a ball off his groin area in the sixth.

The Giants (64-92) have dropped seven of their last nine games and finished their 2026 road slate with a 28-53 record, tied with the Royals for the third-worst road mark in the Majors this season. They’ll now head back to San Francisco for their final homestand of the year, which begins with a three-time series against the Twins on Monday night at Oracle Park.

Vitello said he expects Wilkinson to make one more start for the Giants before the end of the season, as the club is attempting to determine the best role for the Canadian hurler moving forward.

Wilkinson has alternated between starting and relieving since making his Major League debut on Aug. 19, but his performance on Sunday could bolster his case for getting a longer look out of the rotation next year.

“Obviously, he’s earned the right to do that,” Vitello said. “Certainly that’s on the table for the future for him, as well.”