San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin (left) gets the ball from pitcher Robbie Ray (right) as he’s relieved in the top of he fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sun Sep 14, 2025 (AP News photo)

Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Los Angeles Dodgers 10 (84-65)

San Francisco Giants 2 (75-74)

Win: Tyler Glasnow (3-3)

Loss: Robbie Ray (11-7)

Time: 3:09

Attendance: 40,112

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Los Angeles Dodgers got to Robbie Ray, and smoked the San Francisco Giants 10-2 to take this pivotal series at Oracle Park

This series began in epic fashion when Patrick Bailey sent everybody home happy with a walk-off grand salami in the bottom of the tenth inning in the series opener Friday night. The Giants then jumped out to an early 4-1 lead Saturday night, but Logan Webb was unable to hold it. The Dodgers put up a big fat six-spot to open up a 9-4 lead Saturday, and won 13-7 Sunday in what was just a wild game.

The Giants were trying to take the rubber match on a beautiful fall day for baseball at Oracle Park after their rough loss Saturday night. Robbie Ray looked to be the stopper today, and he started the day nicely with a one, two, three top of the first inning. However, he would have a rough go of things against the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup afterwards.

The Dodgers opened the scoring on a sacrifice fly by Enrique Hernandez in the top of the second. The Dodgers only scored one run in that inning, but Ray really had to work, and that would prove costly as his day went along.

The Giants responded against Dodgers’ starter Tyler Glasnow in the bottom of the second, and tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Casey Schmitt. However, the Dodgers manufactured another run to retake the lead in the top of the third.

Ray pitched a scoreless top of the fourth, but things fell apart for him in the top of the fifth. Mookie Betts walked to lead off the inning, and Teoscar Hernandez singled him over to second, Freddie Freeman then hooked a double down the right field line to make it 3-1, and Ray was done.

Bob Melvin summoned his young fireballer, Joel Peguero, but things didn’t get much better. Peguero walked Tommy Edman, and then former Giant Michael Conforto hit a pinch-hit single to right-center that scored a pair.

The Dodgers led 5-1, and they still weren’t done. Well, not with scoring at least. Peguero disengaged from the rubber three times with Miguel Rojas at the plate, and since 2023, disengaging three times from the rubber with the same batter at the plate is a balk. That meant Edman scored, and the Dodgers now led 6-1. Melvin came out to raise a stink, but to no avail.

During that fifth inning, the Dodgers fans who made the trek up north made their presence felt. The bleachers only looked less like the visitor’s section at a college football game than usual today, but the amount of blue throughout the ballpark truly set the tone.

Tyler Glasnow settled down in the middle innings to retire 11-straight batters. While the Giants did not go down quietly in the later innings, they still only scored two runs.

You could say the most embarrassing part of the game came in the bottom of the ninth, after the Dodgers had already opened their lead to 10-2. Drew Gilbert hit a one-out double, but on appeal, he was called out for missing first base. The Giants challenged the call, obviously, but it was upheld.

The Dodgers indeed won 10-2.

Unfortunately, the Mets ended their eight-game losing streak on a walk-off home run by Pete Alonso to beat the Texas Rangers 5-2. That means the Giants fall to a game and a half back of the Mets for the third wild card in the National League with 13 games to go.

Well, here we are. There are just two weeks left to go in the Regular Season, and the Giants will head to Arizona to begin their final road trip of the season. They will have three against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix starting Monday night, and then they will go over to Los Angeles for four against these very Dodgers starting Thursday night.

Kai-Wei Teng (2-4, 7.54 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants in the series opener at Chase Field Sunday night. Zac Gallen (11-14, 4.84 ERA) will counter for Arizona.

Final Thoughts:

Series losses happen, especially against good teams like the Dodgers. The Giants wasted some opportunities to gain sole possession of the third wild card in the National League, as they went 3-4 during the Mets’ eight-game losing streak.

The good news is that the Mets remain in complete freefall, and have a much harder schedule than the Giants. The Giants have their four-gamer in Los Angeles next weekend, but the Mets have to host the Padres for three this week, and then they have to go to Wrigley Field to play the Cubs next week.

The Giants have 13 games left to play, and the Mets have 12. Assuming the Mets, who hold the tiebreaker against the Giants, go 6-6 in their final 12 games, which could be a stretch for them given how they’ve been playing, the Giants would have to go 9-4. It’s very doable, but we’ll just have to watch and see what crazy stuff happens as the final two weeks of the Regular Season play out.

National League Wild Card Standings:

1. Cubs 85-64 +8.5

*2. Padres 82-68 +5.0

3. Mets 77-73 —

GIANTS 75-74 1.5

Diamondbacks 75-75 2.0

Reds 74-75 2.5

Cardinals 73-77 5.0