San Francisco Giants Eric Haase rounds first base after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Tue May 12, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Los Angeles Dodgers (24-17) led for a few innings before the San Francisco Giants (17-24) brought out the big guns. Eric Haase hit a couple of home runs and Harrison Bader also hit a long ball with the final score 6-2.

With the win the Giants took a 2-0 series lead in this four-game series. Willy Adames had two hits and continues to make strides so he is back. After struggling for a while, San Francisco is fighting their way up the standings but they still have a ways to go. The good news is that they are playing some excellent ball right now.

Game notes: The Dodgers got the first run of the game in the first inning. Ohtani singled, Freddie Freeman singled and Kyle Tucker was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Wes Smith sacrificed and Ohtani scored for the early 1-0 lead. Loading the bases was not the way the Giants wanted to start off this game. The damage was kept to a minimum with just the one run. The Giants went three and out in the opening inning. The second inning was a three and out for both teams.

San Francisco was able to tie up the game in the third inning 1-1. Eric Haase hit a long ball to left center to tie up this game. The tie was short-lived when in the bottom of the third inning. Shohei Ohtani gave the Dodgers back the lead with his sixth home run of the season 2-1. Los Angeles pitcher Yamamoto was rolling along with six strikeouts through four innings and two three and outs. The Giants starting pitcher Houser was also having some success with 4 strikeouts through four innings. He had given up three hits.

This game took a crazy turn in the fifth inning. San Francisco hit not one but two back-to-back home runs. Harrison Bader hit the first one and Eric Haase the second giving the Giants a 3-2 lead. This was Haase’s second long ball of the game.

It had been a tough inning for Yamamoto. Now it would be up to Houser to protect that lead for San Francisco. The inning would come to an end with a double play and Hauser was having a very good game.

Much of the damage in this game was done by the bottom of the lineup for the Giants, the eighth and ninth batters. Rafael Devers had a hit, but it was the three Giants home runs, two from Haase and the one from Bader that had San Francisco leading going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Every time the Dodgers took the lead, San Francisco either tied the game or took the lead. With only four hits through six innings those home runs were priceless.

There was a pitching change in the bottom of the sixth inning for San Francisco. Adrian Houser was relieved by Matt Gage. Houser went 5 2/3 innings finishing with three hits, two runs, theee walks and four strikeouts.

The Giants got something going in the top of th seventh inning. They had runners on the corners, Ramos with a double and Adames a single with no outs. An insurance run or two was what San Francisco really needed right now having a great opportunity to do just that with the two runners on base.

The Giants got one of those insurance runs when Drew Gilbert bunted and Ramos scored extending the San Francisco lead to 4-2. The Giants added two more runs in the inning stunning the fans in the stadium. Chung Hoo Lee doubled Gilbert and Adames home for a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning. The Giants finished off the bottom of the inning striking out Ohtani.

The Dodgers refused to go quietly putting two runners on base (Tucker and Freeman) with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. San Francisco relief pitcher Sam Hentges loaded the bases with Max Muncy at the plate. Hentges got the second out and was relieved by Caleb Kilian to close out the inning with the bases remaining loaded. Kilian got the GIants out of the inning and they were three outs away from winning game two.

The Dodgers had one last inning to make a move. Dodger stadium had begun to empty, the fans having little to cheer about since the third inning of the game. Giants relief pitcher Kilian would remain in the game looking to close it out. A strikeout, a couple of ground outs and that was the ball game 6-2 in favor of San Francisco.

Game notes: Tuesday night, the Giants took game one of their four game series with the Dodgers 9-3. Wednesday night San Francisco took a 2-0 lead in the series. Tuesday night’s hero for the Giants was Willy Adames who has recently had his struggles but now seems to be turning that all around.

Adames was not the only player that really showed up for this game. Rafael Devers hit a home run and drew a bases loaded walk that broke a late inning tie. This loss gave the Dodgers an eighth loss of their last 12 games as they continue to limp through May. The Los Angeles offense has been downright awful. Shohei Ohtani was 0-5 and had two strikeouts Tuesday night.

With the win, the Giants knocked the Dodgers out of first place in the National League West. San Francisco finished the game with 12 hits and Adames, Devers, Luis Arraez and Casey Schmitt each had two hits. Their offense was humming.

Wednesday the Giants will play for a win in game three and taking a 3-0 series lead. Robbie Ray will take the mound for San Francisco with a 3-4 win/loss record and a 2.76 ERA. The Dodgers will start Shohei Ohtani. First pitch for Wednesday’s game is scheduled for 7:10 PM.