Thairo Estrada the San Francisco Giants second baseman forces out the Los Angeles Dodgers Corey Seagar and throws to first base to complete a double play on Fri Sep 3, 2021 (AP News photo)
By Jeremy Kahn
SAN FRANCISCO-Trea Turner maybe new to the rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but it was his throwing error that decided the game.
Turner threw the ball hit by Buster Posey that pulled Will Smith off of first base by mere inches that allowed Brandon Belt to score from third base and the Giants regained the first-place lead in the National League West with a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers before a crowd of 39,338 at Oracle Park.
Mike Yastrzemski started the inning on second base, then after Darin Ruf struck out for the first out of the inning, Brandon Belt was intentionally walked and then Kris Bryant to load the bases against losing pitcher Evan Phillips. Alex Dickerson then grounded into a force play, when Corey Seager threw to Austin Barnes for the second out of the inning that brought Posey to the plate.
Posey grounded the ball to Turner at second base that pulled Smith off the bag by inches and was originally called safe by first base umpire Todd Tichenor, the call was reviewed by the umpires in New York and after the review, the call was upheld and the Giants escaped with a hard-fought victory.
In the top of the 11th inning, the Dodgers were unable that all important run across, as Justin Turner, who started the inning on second base, then moved to third on a Corey Seager base hit; however, Turner was thrown out at the plate on a great throw by Brandon Crawford on a ball hit by Smith. Jarlin Garcia then struck out Chris Taylor and Phillips to end the jam and the inning.
Garcia pitched the final inning for the Giants, as he allowed one hit and struck out two to pick up his sixth win of the season.
Albert Pujols was on second base to start the top of the 10th inning, and then went to third on Austin Pollock fly out to centerfield and that is when Walker Buehler, who is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon for the Dodgers came on to pinch-run for Pujols and Buehler scored without a throw from Yastrzemski to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead on a sacrifice fly by Trea Turner.
The Giants tied it up in the bottom of the 10th inning, when Posey scored on a Brandon Crawford single, who went to second on the throw home. Thairo Estrada then hit a ground ball that sent Crawford to third base; however, both Yastrzemski and pinch hitter Curt Casali struck out to end the inning.
Austin Slater came off the bench to pinch hit for LaMonte Wade, Jr., and Slater singled to left field in the bottom of the third inning with the bases loaded to score DeSclafani from third base to give the Giants the 1-0 lead over the Dodgers.
DeSclafani walked to lead off the inning against Phil Bickford, who came on to replace Corey Knebel, who went the first two innings.
Unfortunately, the Giants were unable to take care advantage following the Slater base hit, as Alex Vesia, who gave up the single to Slater was able to get Posey to ground into a force play that saw Justin Turner throw to Smith to get Ruf at the plate.
Ruf walked following DeSclafani, and after the Posey force out, Crawford hit a screaming line drive that Cody Bellinger was able to track down to end the inning.
DeSclafani ended up going six innings, allowing zero runs on just two hits, walking three and striking out five and did not figure in the decision.
Knebel, who went the first two innings for the Dodgers after being a last-minute replacement for David Price, allowed two hits and struck out two.
Bickford went 0.1 innings, allowing one run on one hits, walked two and struck out one in what turned into a bullpen game for the Dodgers.
Following Bickford, Dodgers manager used his entire bullpen, as Vesia came on then it was Brusdar Graterol, Justin Bruhl, Blake Treinen, Joe Kelly, Kenley Jansen, Andrew Vasquez and Evan Phillips.
In all, the 10 relievers allowed two runs on six hits, walked eight and struck out seven over the final 8.2 innings of the game that took four hours and 32 minutes to complete.
The Dodgers could not muster any offense off of DeSclafani, as he limited them to those two hits. DeSclafani gave up a single to Trea Turner and did not allow another hit until Seager singled with one out in the top of the fourth inning.
After the Turner single, Max Muncy grounded into a force play and after Mookie Betts popped out for the second out of the inning, DeSclafani walked Justin Turner; however, he was able to get out of the jam, when he struck out Seager to end the inning.
Unlike the Dodgers, the Giants put a few rallies together in three different innings, including the third. The Giants also put multiple runners on base in the bottom of the fifth, the sixth inning; and in the ninth inning; however, in those innings, they came away with nothing.
Evan Longoria made his return to the diamond in the bottom of the sixth inning, and reached on a throwing error when Muncy was unable to scoop up the Turner throw from third base.
With Longoria on first base, Ruf hit a low line drive into center field and it looked like made a great shoestring catch to end the inning; however, the call was overturned, when the ball hit the ground just before it landed in his glove.
Tyler Rogers came on in the top of the eighth inning and retired the Dodgers in order, including getting Muncy looking to end the inning.
Unfortunately, Jake McGee was unable to hold onto the lead for the Giants in the top of the ninth inning and secure his 30th save of the season, as he gave up a single to Justin Turner with one out, then Seager doubled him to third and after Smith grounded into a force play that saw Seager get called out after Turner returned to third base; however, the game could have ended if Posey would have tagged Seager prior to running Turner back to the base. The snafu cost the Giants, as Taylor tied up the game, when he singled to score Turner from third base.
NOTES: Longoria was reinstated from the 10-day injured list and Mauricio Dubon was optioned to Sacramento to make room for Longoria.
Entering the game, the Giants and Dodgers were tied for first place with the exact same winning percentage of .634, and it was only the second time in the long history of this rivalry (130 games or more) that the teams met. The only other time was from September 3-6, 1962, (Sarah Langs via Elias).
The 201 home runs hit by the Giants are the most by the team since they hit a team-record 235 home runs in 2001, and the 201 home runs are the sixth-most in team history.
This was the first time since September 18, 1997 that the Giants and Dodgers were tied for first place in the month of September. The Giants ended up taking over first place that afternoon, when former Skyline (Oakland) High School standout and Stanford quarterback Brian Johnson hit a solo home run off of Mark Guthrie to give the Giants a 6-5 victory in 12 innings, and propelled the Giants to win the National League West over the Dodgers.
UP NEXT: Julio Urias, who is 15-3 on the season for the Dodgers will take the mound on Saturday night, while there is no announced starter for the Giants.
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