Giants wave goodbye to Dodgers, beating them for sixth consecutive time
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At least the Giants are showing some versatility in beating the snot out of the Dodgers every night. They beat the Dodgers with old guys and recycled guys, and on Tuesday, the greenest of guys.
On this night, the Giants turned to rookie first baseman Brandon Belt, who earlier in the day had been with the triple-A Fresno Grizzlies.
No matter, he looked plenty polished against the Dodgers, hitting a homer for the game’s first run, and then after the Dodgers had actually rallied from two down, a double to break a 3-3 tie in the seventh.
That left the Giants with a 5-3 victory, something they’re getting plenty used to against the Dodgers. It was their sixth consecutive defeat of the Dodgers. Last time they’ve managed that was 1969. And that Dodgers’ team finished 85-77.
Tuesday marked the Dodgers’ fourth consecutive loss overall and left them a season-high 14½ games behind the Giants in the National League West.
Can you say sellers?
Rookie Rubby De La Rosa started for the Dodgers, and if he didn’t pitch nearly as well as his last outing when he allowed one hit through six innings and struck out eight, he was still mostly effective.
The Giants still took an early lead when Belt hit his solo home run out to right in the second, and then added another run when Brandon Crawford singled, took second on a De La Rosa throwing error and scored on a pair of groundouts.
The Dodgers’ falling behind by two runs has been automatic death for more than a month. They hadn’t rallied from two runs down to take the lead since June 12 in Colorado.
Yet they managed to do just that in the third inning after James Loney led off with a double and Rod Barajas was hit by a Madison Bumgarner pitch. Tony Gwynn Jr. followed with a double to score Loney.
And then Rafael Furcal, mired in an 0-for-19 slump, singled up the middle to score Barajas and Gwynn, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
It remained that way until the fifth when the Giants tied it on a Pablo Sandoval single.
It was still a 3-3 game in the seventh when the Dodgers called on reliever Hong-Chih Kuo. And things turned ugly in a hurry.
Andres Torres immediately doubled and was sacrificed to third on a Mike Fontenot bunt. Kuo intentionally walked the hot-hitting Sandoval, and after pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss stole second, struck out Bumgarner. The bases were loaded after an intentional walk to Cody Ross, to set the stage for Belt. Though Ross was struggling, it gave the Dodgers the left-handed Kuo against the left-handed hitting Belt. It seemed logical enough.
Until Belt drove the first pitch Kuo offered down the left-field line to score two.
Meanwhile, after Bumgarner gave up a single to Juan Rivera in the third, he retired the next 16 consecutive Dodgers. Brian Wilson pitched the ninth to earn his 29th save.
The Dodgers managed four total hits. They haven’t had more than eight hits in a game since July 1.
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-- Steve Dilbeck