The Dodgers (82-65) wasted another excellent start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto Friday night when the NL West rival Giants (75-72) walked off with a 5-1 extra-innings win at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Yamamoto missed a no-hitter by one out in his last start. The bullpen blew the game in the unforgettable walk-off loss, and Yamamoto was not even left with a win after his dominant performance. Yamamoto once again got no run support and no win but shoved over 7 innings of work, striking out 10.
The Dodgers offense left nine men on base and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Two costly errors and Tanner Scott added fuel to the fire and the eventual walk-off loss in the 10th.
After 8 2/3 innings of no-hit ball, Yamamoto allowed a run-scoring double to Willy Adames with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Andy Pages bobbled the ball in center field to draw the error, and the Dodgers outfield defense continues to be a significant weakness. Michael Conforto and Teoscar Hernández already rank poorly in defensive metrics, but Pages has had some questionable moments in center field as well.
Justin Verlander took the ball in the series opener for San Francisco. The Dodgers offense had a prime scoring opportunity after Freddie Freeman opened the fourth with a single, and Max Muncy drew one of his patented walks.
Matt chapman and Dominic Smith showed off their defense and saved a run for the Giants with a terrific play.
Hernandez and Conforto made outs which were bad enough. Pages tried to atone for his costly first-inning error but he barely wasn’t able to beat out a throw at first to bring in the tying run.
After a 25-pitch first inning, Yamamoto settled in and slowed his pitch count down. He only needed eight pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the fifth.
Yamamoto looked locked in, using his off-speed repertoire along with with an effective heater to mow through the Giants lineup.
A two-out single in the sixth was Muncy’s first base hit since returning from the injured list. Hernandez had another terrible at-bat and struck out against Verlander to strand Muncy.
Conforto drove a Verlander four-seamer to dead center for a game-tying home run to lead off the seventh.
Betts showed off his defensive skills at shortstop more than once.
The Dodgers kept stranding base runners and left eight men on base through nine innings. If things couldn’t get more frustrating offensively, Dodgers third baseman Muncy was removed from Friday night’s game one half-inning after being hit by a pitch by Giants lefty Joey Lucchesi off his right hand or wrist area.
Betts made some solid plays at shortstop, but a ninth-inning throwing error by Mookie put the Dodgers and Jack Dreyer in a sticky situation. Rafael Devers singled and moved the winning run to third with one out.
Dave Roberts went to the bullpen, and gulp, brought in Blake Treinen. Willy Adames was intentionally walked to load the bases for Wilmer Flores. For some reason Grant McCray was sent home on a shallow ball to center field, and Pages was chomping on the bit to throw him out at the plate on a very shallow ball to center field.
The Dodgers had yet another chance with runners in scoring position in the tenth inning, and this time poor base running doomed the Dodgers offense.
The Dodgers had the winning out at third with one out in the bottom of the tenth, but Betts flied into a double play when McCray fired to third baseman Matt Chapman to tag Ben Rortvedt out at third.
Roberts went to Tanner Scott in the bottom of the 10th. Things backfired, once again. Patrick Bailey hit a walk-off grand slam on a flat Scott four-seamer to give the Giants a 5-1 win.
Home runs: Michael Conforto (11); Patrick Bailey (6)
WP — Joel Peguero (2-0): 1 IP, no hits, no runs, 1 walks, no strikeouts
LP — Blake Treinen (1-4): 1 IP, no hits, 1 run (unearned), 1 walk, no strikeouts
The Dodgers and Giants go at it again on Saturday, albeit an hour earlier (6:05 p.m., SportsNet LA). Clayton Kershaw (10-2, 3.27 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) faces Logan Webb (14-9, 3.12 ERA, 1.22 WHIP).
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