Tag: Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers Mookie Betts connects for a single in the fourth inning in front of San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey in game 5 of the NLDS at Oracle Park in San Francisco (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Of the series between the two best teams in Major League Baseball in 2021 came down the final at-bat and it was the Los Angeles Dodgers standing in the end.

Cody Bellinger hit a seeing eye single in the top of the ninth inning that scored Justin Turner from second base, helping the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game Five of the National League Division Series before a crowd of 42,275 at Oracle Park.

I actually did think he had a fastball and I thought the slider was and Bellinger was not able to get underneath it until that one swing, said Giants manager Gabe Kapler.

The Bellinger single gave the Dodgers the lead for good and Game Three starter Max Scherzer came on to close it out for the Dodgers, who move on to their second NLCS appearance and their fifth appearance in the last six years.

Scherzer did run into some trouble in the bottom of the ninth inning, as after he got Brandon Crawford to fly out to Chris Taylor in right field, Turner committed a fielding error at third base that allowed Kris Bryant reach first base that brought LaMonte Wade, Jr., who became the late inning hero for the Giants during the season; however, Wade, Jr., was unable to be the hero, when he struck out for the second out of the inning and then Scherzer got Wilmer Flores on a check swing to end the game, the series and the season for the Giants.

It looked like he did not go. I mean that was my take on it, said Kapler.

Turner reached with one out in the inning after he was hit on the shoulder on a pitch thrown by losing pitcher Camilo Doval, who then gave up a single to Gavin Lux and then Bellinger singled to right field to score Turner with the series winning run for the defending World Champion Dodgers, who will face the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS beginning on Saturday night at Truist Park in Atlanta. This will be the second year in a row that the Dodgers and the Braves will face each other in the NLCS, last season, the Dodgers came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the NLCS in seven games.

The Dodgers finally got to Logan Webb in the top of the sixth inning, Corey Seager hit a flare down the left field line for a double, that scored Mookie Betts from second base to break up the scoreless tie.

Betts was the star of the game for the Dodgers, as he went four-for-four at the plate, including a double in the top of the sixth inning that came right before Seager dropped the double down the left field line that gave the Dodgers the lead for a short period of time.

The four hits by Betts were a postseason career high.

He is one of the best players in baseball for a reason. He is a pretty incredible player and pretty incredible guy, honestly, said Logan Webb.

Darin Ruf tied up the game with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, as he launched a solo home run over the center field wall. It was the first career post season home run for Ruf.

Julio Urias, who pitched a masterpiece on Saturday in the 9-2 win by the Dodgers gave up the home run to Ruf. Urias, who went five innings on Saturday night, as he allowed one run on three hits, walking one, striking out five and threw 72 pitches looked unhittable until Ruf unloaded on the 3-2 pitch that tied up the game.

In all, Urias went four innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking no one and striking out five on four days rest.

Webb, who struck out 10 in the Game One victory for the Giants, came back to throw seven innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking one and striking out seven in his second career postseason career start.

I felt good. Everything was moving the way I wanted to, and yeah it was good. Buster caught a great game, said Webb.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who originally stated that he was going to start Urias instead started Corey Knebel, who pitched the first inning, where he allowed just a double to Buster Posey and nothing else before turning the ball over to the bullpen.

Brusdar Graterol then came up on to replace Knebel, as he also went one inning, allowing two hits and was able to strand two runners on base, when he struck out Webb to end the threat and the inning.

Tyler Rogers came on to replace Webb in the top of the eighth inning, and he got into a jam after he led off the inning by getting Taylor to fly out to Bryant in center field, but then A.J. Pollock came off the bench to pinch hit for Blake Treinen and reached on an infield single that went off the glove of Wilmer Flores.

Betts then came up with his fourth hit of the game to put runners on first and second with one out, but then Rogers struck out Seager for the second out of the inning and that was end of the night for Rogers, who was replaced by Camilo Doval, who on one pitch got Trea Turner to fly out to Austin Slater in right field to get out of the inning and the jam.

NOTES: This was the 27th postseason appearance for the Giants and the 13th since they moved to California in 1958, and it was the first time that the Giants and Dodgers ever faced off versus each other in the postseason.

Kapler is the fifth consecutive Giants manager to lead his team to the postseason, joining Roger Craig (1987, 1989), Dusty Baker (1997, 2000 and 2002), Felipe Alou (2003), Bruce Bochy (2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016) and Kapler (2021).

UP NEXT: The season is over for the Giants, who will meet up again in Spring Training in February of 2022 at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona.

On the other hand, the Dodgers will head to Atlanta, where they will face the Braves beginning on Saturday night in the NLCS.

This is the 15th trip to the NLCS for the Dodgers, breaking the tie with the St. Louis Cardinals for the most trips to the NLCS since divisional play began in 1969.

Los Angeles Dodgers starter Julio Urias leans over the Dodgers dugout railing along the first base side at Oracle Park in San Francisco during game 2 of the NLDS on Sat Oct 9, 2021 (@Dodgers photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Julio Urias came with the biggest hit for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it helped the defending World Champions get even.

Urias singled to right field immediately after Kevin Gausman intentionally walked A.J. Pollock to get Urias, and the plan backfired, helping the Dodgers to a 9-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd of 42,275 at Oracle Park.

It’s a good feeling, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. It’s interesting how the narrative changes from game to game. Right now, it’s a three-game series, we have home-field advantage and we have Max (Scherzer) on the mound. I like where we’re at.

With the victory by the Dodgers, it tied up the National League Division Series between the two longtime rivals.

Obviously looking forward to turning the page on tonight’s game and getting ready for Los Angeles,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “It was not our best effort tonight. Dodgers just swung the bats better than us, made more pitches than us, made more plays than us.

Mookie Betts followed up the Urias single with one of his own that scored Pollock; however, Gausman was able to get out of the inning by striking out Corey Seager to end the inning.

Chris Taylor, who sent the Dodgers into the Division Series, when he hit a two-run walk-off home run off of Anthony Reyes on Wednesday night, led off the inning with a double off of Gausman and scored the first run of the game for the Dodgers.

Urias, who went 20-3 during the regular season pitched the first five innings for the Dodgers, as he allowed one run on just two hits, walking one and striking out five, as the series heads to Dodger Stadium tied up at a game apiece.

I felt good, Urias said. I thought the pitches were working really well. It is the fifth or sixth time I have seen them so it is a little bit trickier to get through that lineup, but I felt good Offensively the team put some runs and all in all it was a good game.

Gausman, who was making his first ever postseason start went 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits, walking three and striking out seven. This was not the first postseason appearance for Gausman, as he appeared in four games in the 2014 postseason for the Baltimore Orioles and in 2018 for the Atlanta Braves.

I mean I made, I thought I made a pretty good adjustment after the second inning, Gausman said. After then, I felt like I kind of got in my zone a little bit and retired a lot of hitters in a row. Obviously, I wish I would have got through that sixth inning.

The Giants cut the Dodgers lead in half in the bottom of the second inning, as Wilmer Flores led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a Brandon Crawford single. Flores then went to third on an Evan Longoria fly out to Taylor in centerfield and then scored on a Donnie Solano fly out to Taylor.

Unfortunately, that is all that the Giants muster against Urias, and finally in the top of the sixth inning, the Dodgers broke the game open from an unlikely source this season; however, a former Most Valuable Player.

With the bases loaded and one out, Cody Bellinger, who won the National League Most Valuable Player in 2019, and who was mired in a season long slump after being injured earlier in the year, came with a two-run double that gave the Dodgers a commanding 4-1 lead and then scored Pollock hit a two-run double of his own that gave the Dodgers a commanding 6-1 lead.

Crawford picked up his second run batted in of the series, as he singled to right field to score LaMonte Wade, Jr., who came off the bench to pinch hit for Austin Slater and drew a walk against Joe Kelly.

Mookie Betts came up with the defensive play of the night that killed the Giants rally that ended the bottom of the sixth inning.

Sometimes you just do things you can’t really explain, Betts said of his play. And that was just one of them.

Crawford singled to score Wade, Jr., however, on the play, Wilmer Flores, who was on first base try to test Betts and go to third, but Betts made a perfect throw to Justin Turner to get Flores and not only end the inning but the threat as well.

Yeah, 100 percent, Flores said. I just thought the ball was more in the corner, No, it was my decision.

Will Smith then greeted Zack Littell rather rudely, as he launched a solo home run deep into the San Francisco night on the first pitch that Littell allowed in the top of the eighth inning.

Taylor and Pollock each picked up singles in between Bellinger, who struck out for the third time on the evening.

Matt Beaty came up with a pinch-hit single that scored Taylor and after Jarlin Garcia came on to replace Littell, Seager singled to right field to score Pollock.

The usual stellar Giants bullpen was anything but that on this night, as the quintet of Dominic Leone, Jake McGee, Littell, Garcia and Kervin Castro pitched the final 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, walking just one and striking out just two.

The quartet of Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol, Corey Knebel and Phil Bickford pitched the final four innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking one and striking out three.

Buster Posey was a bright spot for the Giants despite the seven-run loss that tied up the series, as the veteran catcher went 3-for-4 on the night against Dodgers pitching.

NOTES: When Posey singled in the bottom of the sixth inning, it was the 54th career hit postseason hit for him, passing former teammate Pablo Sandoval.

When Posey caught the shutout in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, it was the 13th time that the Giants won a game via the shutout, by far the most in MLB history, this according to Elias Sports Bureau. The 13 shutouts are five ahead of Yadier Molina (8) and six ahead of Yogi Berra (7). In his career, Posey has been a part of exactly half of the Giants postseason shutouts in team history.

Logan Webb became just the fourth Giants pitcher ever to strikeout 10 or more in his playoff debut, joining Carl Hubbell in Game Three of the 1933 World Series versus the Washington Senators, Tim Lincecum in Game One of the 2010 NLDS versus the Atlanta Braves and Jonathan Sanchez in Game Three of the 2010 NLDS. In all of those instances, the Giants won the World Series.

UP NEXT: Alex Wood will start Game 3 for the Giants of the NLDS against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. During the 2021 season, the Giants were 12-2 with Wood on the mound after a loss. Scherzer will make his second postseason startfor the Dodgers in 2021, as he went 4.1 innings, in the Wild Card game on Wednesday night.

San Francisco Giants starter Logan Webb acknowledges the Oracle Park crowd on the last day of the regular season on Sun Oct 3, 2021 as he is relieved in the eighth inning from pitching against the San Diego Padres. Webb will be the starting pitcher Fri Oct 8, 2021 against the Los Angeles Dodgers for game 1 of the NLDS in San Francisco (AP News photo)

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 Logan Webb Giants starter has been sensational all season talk about how he’s handled the Dodgers when he’s had to face them?

#2 Kevin Gausman starter has been lights out and has had a career season. With his mix of pitches do you see him keeping the Dodgers off balance.

#3 The Dodgers are missing Clayton Kershaw and Max Muncy. That didn’t seem to slow the Dodgers down in their come back on the Cardinals. That said how much will the absence of Kershaw and Muncy impact this club going into Division series.

#4 The Dodgers have been on the Giants heels in the NL West all season long. Giants manager Gabe Kapler has been able to stay of ahead of them talk about the job Kapler has done this season.

#5 Walker Buehler Dodgers starter 16-4 ERA 2.47 is one of the Dodgers aces. The Giants were able to beat him this season how do you see the Giants hitting against Buehler in this upcoming series.

Michael does the Giants podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com