By Jeremy Kahn

Tim Hudson took the ball in the bottom of the first inning, and the right-hander proved why he is in his 17th season.

Hudson pitched into the seventh inning, allowing six hits and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 at Dodger Stadium.

With the victory, the Giants are now one half-game behind the Dodgers in the National League West, and have now won five straight against their longtime rivals. To make matters even worse, the Giants are now 9-2 versus the Dodgers this season.

Justin Maxwell and Brandon Belt each hit two-run home runs off of Dodgers starter Carlos Frias, who allowed all six runs and five hits.

Nori Aoki was forced to leave the game in the top of the first inning, as he was hit by a Frias pitch in the lower leg.

After scoring the Giants first run of the game on a Angel Pagan sacrifice fly, Aoki left the game with what was diagnosed with a bruised leg.

The Giants scored two in the inning, but Hudson gave up back-to-back home runs to Joc Pederson and Justin Turner.

Frias looked dominant after the hiccup in the first inning, as he retired nine in a row until Hudson broke the streak with a single in the top of the fifth inning and then Maxwell broke out of a 2-for-19 slump with a two-run home run into the left field bleachers.

Belt closed out the scoring in the top of the sixth inning, as he hit a high fly that just landed over the right-field wall on what looked like Yaisel Puig lost in the sun.

Hunter Strickland pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Hudson, striking out three and then Sergio Romo finished it off by pitching the ninth inning.