San Francisco 6, LA Dodgers 2
When: 10:15 PM ET, Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Where: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
Temperature:
55°
Umpires:
Home -
Fieldin Culbreth, 1B -
Clint Fagan, 2B -
Manny Gonzalez, 3B -
Jim Reynolds
Attendance:
41386
By The Sports Xchange
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum recorded his first win as a starting pitcher since last August, limiting the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run over six innings in a 6-2 victory Tuesday night.
Rookie right fielder Justin Maxwell homered, tripled, scored three runs, drove in two and made a sensational sliding catch for the Giants, who won for just the second time in their last 11 games in the opener of a three-game series between National League West rivals.
The loss snapped the Dodgers' seven-game winning streak and dropped them into a tie with the San Diego Padres atop the division.
Game 2 of the series Wednesday night features a historic matchup of left-handed aces Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Madison Bumgarner of the Giants in the first-ever pitching duel between a reigning National League Cy Young Award winner and a reigning World Series Most Valuable Player.
The Dodgers arrived in San Francisco having scored at least five runs in seven consecutive games, but managed just two against Lincecum (1-1) and five Giants relievers despite the aid of six walks.
L.A. also had seven hits -- all but two off Lincecum -- but hurt themselves by hitting into four double plays.
Lincecum gave up three of the walks, but successfully pitched around the eight baserunners, permitting only a fifth-inning run after the Giants had provided him a 4-0 lead.
San Francisco had totaled only 21 runs in its previous 11 games.
Before Maxwell's first career home run, a two-run shot off Dodgers right-handed reliever Pedro Baez in the eighth inning, the Giants had used small ball to get the better of L.A. lefty starter Brett Anderson, who had been unbeaten in two starts since joining the club in the offseason.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford's two-out drag bunt scored Maxwell, who had tripled, to open the scoring in the second inning, and infield singles by second baseman Joe Panik and center fielder Angel Pagan set up an RBI single by first baseman Buster Posey in the third.
The Giants doubled their lead in the fourth when, with runners on second and third and two outs, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez fielded Giants left fielder Nori Aoki's slow roller and threw wildly past Anderson, who was slow to cover first base. The hit and error allowed two runs to score, including Crawford, who had doubled.
Maxwell, Crawford, Pagan, Posey, Aoki and catcher Andrew Susac all had two hits for San Francisco, whose run total matched its season high. The Giants outhit the Dodgers 13-7.
Right fielder Yasiel Puig, who had missed four of L.A.'s previous five games with a sore left hamstring, had two of the Dodgers' seven hits.
Puig was denied an opportunity for a third hit when Maxwell slid into foul ground to catch his fly ball with two on and one out in the eighth inning. Puig represented the tying run at the time in his at-bat against the Giants' third pitcher, right-hander Sergio Romo.
Right-hander Santiago Casilla, who inherited a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the ninth with a 6-1 lead, uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch before retiring Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner on a grounder to second baseman Panik to end the game and earn his fifth save.
Anderson left for a pinch hitter in the top of the fifth after allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits in four innings. He struck out one and did not walk a batter.
The left-hander didn't pitch as poorly as his numbers would indicate. The Giants' runs against him were the result of a bunt in the second inning, a single that followed two infield hits in the third, and a two-out chopper to the first baseman that produced two runs in the fourth.
Alex Guerrero, the pinch hitter for Anderson, ended Lincecum's shutout bid in the fifth with a two-out RBI double. The hit scored third baseman Juan Uribe, who also doubled,
Top Game Performances
Hitting
LA Dodgers |
|
San Francisco |
Yasiel Puig
| Player |
Justin Maxwell |
2 |
Hits |
2 |
0 |
RBI |
2 |
0 |
HR |
1 |
2 |
TB |
7 |
.500 |
Avg |
.667 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
LA Dodgers
|
7 |
0 |
9 |
.233 |
21 |
6 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
San Francisco
|
13 |
1 |
19 |
.371 |
16 |
6 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |