Giants ride power surge to beat Dodgers 5-0
David Villar (32) hits a two-run home-run in the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
2023.04.11 – The San Francisco Giants nail a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers with back-to-back homers in the eighth, a two-run shot by David Villar followed by a drive to right by Brandon Crawford.
A day after clubbing three home runs for the fourth time this season in a 9-1 win over the Giants, the Dodgers stranded 10 base-runners.
Alex Wood and five relievers combined on a three-hitter as the Giants shutdown the Dodgers, ending a six-game losing streak to their NL West rivals.
“Pitching win championships so that was really fun to be a part of,” Joc Pederson said. “Woody threw the ball great, scored some runs, bullpen was good so a great team win overall.”
Los Angeles missed a big opportunity in the sixth after loading the bases with no outs following a catcher’s interference call. Jakob Junis got Chris Taylor to strike out swinging, and then left-hander Scott Alexander (1-0) fielded James Outman’s short comebacker and flipped to home for the force. Alexander followed with a swinging strikeout of Miguel Rojas.
“We had a lot of guys on base, we just couldn’t get the hit,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. That’s kind of how it goes sometimes. Woody pitched good, and their bullpen came in and did well too. We’re not going to make an excuse for scoring zero runs.”
2023.04.11 (SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers) See video Highlights
Brandon Crawford celebrates after a drive to right home-run in the 8th inning as the San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
2023.04.11 (SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers) See video Highlights
2023.04.11 (SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers) See video Highlights
John Brebbia allowed a leadoff walk to Mookie Betts in the seventh, then retired the next three batters to end another Dodgers threat.
Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval set down three batters apiece to finish it off.
“I really have a lot of faith in everybody in our bullpen,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “Obviously Alexander’s thrown the ball well for us since he’s been in a Giants uniform. There’s a lot of trust in him. Today I thought it made the most sense to let the bullpen do the work and they did a great job.”
Rogers said San Francisco’s bullpen is still searching for an identity.
“I can’t really speak to the feel quite yet,” Rogers said. “Today was a good step in the right direction to figure out kind of our identity as a bullpen.”
Wood was much sharper than he was against the Chicago White Sox, who chased him after three ineffective innings on April 6. Although he remains winless against the Dodgers in eight starts with San Francisco, Wood allowed one hit, struck out five and worked around three walks in 4 2/3 innings.
“Anytime you can get a win against a team of that caliber (is good),” Wood said. “They’re a great team much less a division opponent, too.”
2023.04.11 – Giants vs. Dodgers (NBC SPORTS Post-Game)
David Villar (32) high fives Mike Yastrzemsky (5) after they scored on Villar’s two-run home-run in the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
2023.04.11 – Giants vs. Dodgers (95.7 fm The Game)
2023.04.11 – Giants vs. Dodgers (95.7 fm The Game)
The Giants scored early and late. Pederson lined his two-run double down the right-field line against Dustin May (1-1). Villar and Crawford went deep off reliever Evan Phillips.
May allowed two hits and four walks over 5 1/3 innings. He was limited to six starts last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and had allowed only one run in his first 13 innings this year.
The Dodgers had won their last eight games at Oracle Park dating to last season.
CLUTCH DEFENSE
San Francisco second baseman Thairo Estrada entered the game late as a defensive replacement then made one of the game’s biggest plays when he snagged Outman’s grounder and threw him out while still sitting on the infield dirt.
Alexander, the lefty from Santa Rosa, came up big in helping preserve a two-run lead. Dodgers loaded the bases against Junis in the sixth with a lead-off single by J.D. Martinez and a bloop hit by Trayce Thompson before Miguel Vargas reached on a catcher’s interference call against Blake Sabol. Junis struck out Chris Taylor, and Alexander took the mound.
Alexander got James Outman to hit a tapper, and Alexander jumped quickly off the mound to make a shovel play to the plate to erase Martinez. Alexander struck out Miguel Rojas to end the inning.
“Obviously, bases loaded, I’m just trying to get that first guy, trying to get ahead,” Alexander said. “Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s just kind of the life of a reliever, so I’m happy I was able to help out, pick up Juney there and get us back in the dugout.’
2023.04.11 – Giants vs. Dodgers GM2 (KRUEGER Show Post-Game)
The Giants celebrate after David Villar’s two-run home-run in the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants played the Los Angeles Dodgers at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
2023.04.11 – Giants vs. Dodgers (Damon Bruce Show)
2023.04.11 – Giants vs. Dodgers (Damon Bruce Show)
Alexander’s life seems all “it works out” these days. In four appearances, he hasn’t allowed a run and has stranded all five runners he has inherited. Dating to Sept 12, Alexander hasn’t allowed a run in his past 14 games, and in 20 career innings with the Giants, he has an 0.90 ERA.
On Tuesday, he threw eight pitches, all sinkers.
“They know the sinker’s coming, and they can’t hit it,” said Sabol, who recorded his first career shutout behind the plate. “I mean, it’s a tough pitch to catch, so it’s probably really tough to hit.”
In another moment from the Giants’ bullpen, Tyler Rogers struck out Max Muncy, who regularly dismantles San Francisco’s pitching, to start the eighth.
“I think today was a good step in kind of finding our identity as a bullpen,” Rogers said. “We had a lot of first-pitch strikes. We were just going after them with our best stuff. Scott got out of a huge situation right there — you see that, you’ve got to kind of step up as well.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants OF Mitch Haniger (left oblique strain) and OF/IF Austin Slater (left hamstring strain) are both progressing and have resumed baseball activities but aren’t likely to rejoin the team until it returns from its upcoming trip. Kapler said both players could begin rehab assignments soon.
UP NEXT
Dodgers ace LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-1, 3.75 ERA) gets the start in the series finale on Wednesday. Kershaw allowed nine earned runs in 18 1/3 innings during four appearances against the Giants last season.
Giants RHP Alex Cobb (0-1, 2.53), who has 12 strikeouts and one walk over his first two starts, goes for San Francisco.
RELATED: Giants hit 7 homer in romp over White Sox
RELATED: See below – SF Giants 2014 World Series Champions
Read more at: San Francisco Giants Media Services / More AP MLB
JEstevez@EMIsportsCentral.com
For more on the San Francisco Giants, see the blog at www.EMIsportsCentral.com
EMI Sports Central – EMI Sports Bay Area: Join the conversation on sports news for SF Bay Area teams: Follow @EMIsports on Twitter, “Like” us on Facebook and sign up for our FREE email newsletters.
SF Giants 2014 World Series Champions