By: Eric He
photo credit AP: The Los Angeles Dodgers Joc Pederson (31) gets congratulated by Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts (30) after going yard in the fifth inning off San Francisco Giant pitcher Jeff Samardzija at Dodgers Stadium
LOS ANGELES — Jeff Samardzija was cruising his way through the vaunted Dodgers lineup — until one pitch slipped from his hand.
It was supposed to be a sinker off the plate to Joc Pederson, but it stayed in the zone and Pederson crushed it out to right field to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead for the Dodgers — a lead they would not relinquish for a 3-1 win over the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night.
“We were sinking [Pederson] away off, and it just stayed on the plate and he put a good swing on it,” Samardzija said.
Samardzija had shut the Dodgers down through four innings until giving up the home run in the fourth inning.
The Dodgers added an insurance run in the seventh, and it was manufactured by Yasiel Puig, who led off the inning with a single and stole second. Then, on a single by Yasmani Grandal that was deflected by Joe Panik and rolled into the lip of the outfield grass, Puig aggressively headed home and scored ahead of the throw.
A walk to the next batter forced Samardzija from the game — the righty allowed three runs in six innings of work.
Samardzija, one of the Giants’ big free agent acquisitions, had a 1-0 record with a 3.38 ERA prior to Sunday’s game.
“I’m not upset about how it went today,” Samardzija said. “Obviously, the one pitch was unfortunate but other than that, I think we did exactly what we wanted to do: a lot of balls on the ground, a couple of double plays, some quick innings.”
Joe Panik led off the scoring with a loud home run to right field, his second of the season that put the Giants up 1-0. The run was the first one allowed by Dodgers’ starter Kenta Maeda in the big leagues.
Maeda entered the night not having allowed a run through two starts, each of which lasted six innings.
And after Panik’s home run, he settled down big time. The Giants put their first two runners on in the fourth inning, but Matt Duffy hit into a double play to end the threat. Maeda then retired eight straight Giants, with Brandon Crawford breaking the streak with an opposite-field single in the seventh with one out. But he was promptly erased when Samardzija bunted into a double play.
Manager Bruce Bochy defended the decision to leave Samardzija in the game instead of pinch-hitting for him with the tying run on base.
“He was throwing the ball very well,” Bochy said. “His pitch count was very good.”
Maeda went seven innings and allowed just the one run on four hits, striking out seven. It may have taken the Giants some time to adjust to the Japanese rookie.
“You can’t make excuses,” Buster Posey said. “You’ve just got to go out and do the best you can. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to cash in there early.
“I thought he changed speeds well. Once he got past the first couple innings, he commanded the ball better in the zone.”
The Giants have now lost four of their last five and drop two of three to the Dodgers in the series. The Giants are 4-3 against the Dodgers thus far this season.
“These two teams [the Giants and Dodgers] are going to go at it and we’re going to battle each other all year,” Bochy said. “They’re good games, close games. It’s exciting when we play each other.”
The Giants will head back home to kick off a four-game series against the Diamondbacks on Monday.
Sports Radio Service 