Giants beat Dodgers on Yaz homer and Webb’s six shutout

Giants beat Dodgers on Yastrzemski homer and Webb’s six shutout innings

Mike Yastrzemski #5 of the San Francisco Giants hit a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning at Oracle Park on May 15, 2024 in San Francisco, California.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

2024.05.15 – Mike Yastrzemski hit a two-run homer and Logan Webb pitched six scoreless innings as the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Webb (4-4) limited Los Angeles to three hits, striking out five and walking three to help the Giants snap a six-game losing streak against their longtime rivals.

“We were kind of embarrassed about how we played the first two games” of the series, starter Webb said. “I felt that, we felt that and I just wanted to go out there and give it all I could. Luckily, it turned out the way it did. There’s not many much-needed wins early in the season, but tonight was a much-needed win. Hopefully, this just gets us going.”

The right-hander got some help from his defense in the fourth when center fielder Luis Matos leaped and reached over the wall to rob Teoscar Hernández of a home run.

“I didn’t think he was going to catch it off the bat,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “Sometimes it’s tough to predict the wind here and whether a ball’s going to carry or not. That’s just got to be a perfect route, you throw your hand up at the end and hope it goes in your glove.”

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2024.05.15 (LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights

Mike Yastrzemski #5 of the San Francisco Giants is congratulated by Curt Casali #18 after he hit a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning at Oracle Park on May 15, 2024 in San Francisco, California.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

2024.05.15 (LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights

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2024.05.15 (LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights

Yastrzemski took Los Angeles starter Elieser Hernández deep to right in the third for his fourth home run of the season.

Heliot Ramos added an RBI double in the sixth to make it 3-0.

The win concludes a stretch of 16 games in which not much has gone right. Injuries to a chunk of the everyday players came on the tail end of a 10-game road trip on which the Giants went 3-7.

THE CASALI “AURA”

Fresh off a cross-country flight to San Francisco after signing with the Giants on Wednesday afternoon, Curt Casali brought an “aura,” as Melvin put it, to the dugout and seamlessly transitioned back into a familiar role catching Webb, as he did during the 2021 season.

Casali also collected the Giants’ first hit, a third-inning single off 29-year-old journeyman Elieser Hernandez, who was making his season debut. Casali’s close friend and Vanderbilt teammate Yastrzemski brought him home with a homer to make it 2-0.

The lineups, now brimming with youth, drawn up against their billion-dollar rivals looked nothing like the healthy ones that got swept in L.A. during the season’s first week, but looked just as overmatched. The Giants needed this mid-May reminder that the Dodgers are fallible.

For the series finale, at least, Webb redeemed himself from a five-run outing against the Dodgers in L.A. the first week in April and continued his bounce-back since returning home. The Giants’ right-hander needed 32 pitches to work around a bases-loaded situation in the first inning, retiring the side without letting a run cross.

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2024.05.15 – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants (NBC Sports Post Recap)

Shohei Ohtani #17 (center left) of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts to reaching second base in the first inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on May 15, 2024 in San Francisco, California.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

2024.05.15 – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants (NBC Sports Post Recap)

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2024.05.15 – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants (NBC Sports Post Recap)

Hernández (0-1) permitted three runs and four hits in six innings, striking out three and walking one in his Dodgers debut. The right-hander had his contract selected from Triple-A Oklahoma City earlier Wednesday.

“Elieser threw the ball really well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Yaz put a really good swing on a ball that was up and in with two strikes. Certainly the difference in the game.”

Max Muncy drove in the Dodgers’ run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Matos’ leaping grab at the center-field fence — the same spot where Jung Hoo Lee collided and dislocated his shoulder Sunday — robbed Hernández of a home run and opened the door to a 10-pitch fourth inning for Webb. An 11-pitch sixth capped his scoreless outing at 103 pitches. He walked three and struck out five and gave up just three hits.

Webb changed up his pitch mix this time against the Dodgers, throwing his trusty changeup only 15 times and throwing more four-seam fastballs than he usually does in order to get inside more on the powerful L.A. hitters.

“It’s 30-plus pitches and I’m wondering how he’s going to go four (innings), let alone six,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Fifth and sixth were pretty good for him, to recover from something like that where you throw so many pitches in the first inning against that club that fouls pitches off and makes you work and get it under control and get six shutout innings, that’s probably his best work of the year.”

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2024.05.15 – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants (Locked On post game)

San Francisco Giants’ Luis Matos hits an RBI single in front of Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith during the eighth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

2024.05.15 – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants (Locked On post game)

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2024.05.15 – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants (Locked On post game)

Camilo Doval allowed two runners to reach in the ninth but retired Freddie Freeman on a groundball to second for his seventh save.

The Dodgers left 11 runners on base.

“I thought tonight was a much-needed win,” Webb said. ”Hopefully, this just gets us going.”

“It’s a really good experience for some of our younger guys,” Melvin said. “Ramos gets another big hit, Matos gets another big hit, obviously there was Yaz’s home run. There are important wins over the course of the season. Early on, this was probably one of them.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: OF Jason Heyward (lower back tightness) continued his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City and could return in the next couple of days, according to Roberts. … RHP Evan Phillips (strained right hamstring) felt good after throwing off a mound. Roberts said Phillips will throw off a mound again in two or three days.

Giants: DH Jorge Soler (strained right shoulder) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento. Melvin said there’s a chance Soler could come off the injured list as soon as Friday. … RHP Keaton Winn had an MRI after exiting Tuesday’s start with a right forearm strain. “Initial reports are encouraging,” Melvin said, calling the injury “pretty mild.”

ROSTER MOVES

The Dodgers selected Elieser Hernández and recalled RHP Eduardo Salazar from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Los Angeles optioned RHP Gus Varland to the minor league affiliate and designated RHP Nabil Crismatt for assignment.

The Giants signed catcher Casali to a one-year contract. Casali batted ninth and went 1 for 2 with a walk. San Francisco optioned catcher Jakson Reetz to Triple-A Sacramento and transferred catcher Tom Murphy (sprained left knee) to the 60-day injured list.

UP NEXT

Dodgers: RHP Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 2.53 ERA) seeks his fourth straight win when he opens a four-game home series against the Reds on Thursday night. Cincinnati had not announced a starter.

Giants: LHP Kyle Harrison (3-1, 3.42 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night when San Francisco opens a three-game home series against the Rockies. Colorado counters with RHP Ryan Feltner (1-3, 5.20).