Casey Schmitt's grand slam leads Giants past Dodgers to pull even atop NL West

San Francisco Chronicle​

13 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — Casey Schmitt isn't one to hang his head for long, his particularly ill-timed error in Denver one day earlier forgotten Friday as the San Francisco Giants opened a key series at Dodger Stadium.
He atoned, and in majestic fashion, in the fourth inning, walloping a grand slam into the seats, sauntering slowly out of the box, not at all intimidated in the least by the beasts of the NL West. That blast off Yoshinobu Yamamoto helped vault the Giants to a 6-2 win and into a first-place tie with Los Angeles atop the division.
Willy Adames thwacked the Giants' first homer, a solo shot in the first — Adames' third in four games — Los Angeles native Dominic Smith had his second consecutive three-hit game, and Logan Webb worked seven innings and allowed the powerful Dodgers just two hits.
In the eighth, catcher Andrew Knizner recorded his first hit with San Francisco, a solo homer to center that bounced beyond the fence and sprang back on the field, causing some initial confusion as he pulled up at third. His teammates waved him in, the umpires conferred and Knizner had his first big-league homer since April 21, 2024. (He has some pop, he hit 10 homers in 70 games with St. Louis in 2023.)
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Riding a surprising power surge, San Francisco hit its key number, and more: When scoring four runs or more, the Giants are 29-9.
The wild card Friday was home-plate umpire Adam Beck, whose strike zone was tight and sometimes overly so, complete with some late calls, drawing disgruntled responses from both teams.
Giants 6, Dodgers 2
San Francisco Los Angeles
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Totals 36 6 10 6 Totals 27 2 2 2
Lee cf 4 1 0 0 Ohtani dh 4 0 0 0
Adames ss 5 1 1 1 Betts ss 2 0 0 0
Ramos lf 4 1 1 0 Freeman 1b 4 0 0 0
D.Smith 1b 5 0 3 0 W.Smith c 3 1 0 0
Flores dh 4 1 2 0 T.Hernández rf 3 1 2 1
Schmitt 3b 3 1 1 4 Muncy 3b 3 0 0 0
Yastrzemski rf 3 0 1 0 Pages cf 2 0 0 1
Fitzgerald 2b 4 0 0 0 Conforto lf 3 0 0 0
Knizner c 4 1 1 1 Edman 2b 3 0 0 0
San Francisco 104 000 010 — 6
Los Angeles 010 000 100 — 2
DP_San Francisco 1, Los Angeles 0. LOB_San Francisco 8, Los Angeles 3. 2B_Yastrzemski (12), D.Smith (2), Flores (6). HR_Adames (8), Schmitt (2), Knizner (1), T.Hernández (12). SF_Pages (2).
IP H R ER BB SO
San Francisco
Webb W,6-5 7 2 2 2 3 4
Rogers 1 0 0 0 0 0
Walker 1 0 0 0 1 1
Los Angeles
Yamamoto L,6-5 4 2-3 6 5 5 5 4
Wrobleski 4 1-3 4 1 1 0 5
WP_Webb.
Umpires_Home, Adam Beck; First, Dan Iassogna; Second, CB Bucknor; Third, Scott Barry.
T_2:25. A_53,022 (56,000).
Yamamoto, who's enjoying a terrific season, walked the bases loaded to set the stage for Schmitt's slam, and in the second, Webb walked the first two batters, and, after Max Muncy hit into a force, Andy Pages hit a flyball to right. Will Smith tagged at third and came home as Mike Yastrzemski threw a strike to the plate; he'd have been out except catcher Andrew Knizner dropped the ball — after he'd made the tag.
The Dodgers didn't get another man past first against Webb until the seventh, when Teoscar Hernández hit a solo homer to right.
Webb had some solid defensive work behind him, including from Yastrzemski, who made a basket catch at the track to retire Freddie Freeman and end the third, and Schmitt, who made a tricky play with his back to the plate on Max Muncy's pop-up to short left.
Tyler Rogers handled the eighth, going 1-2-3 and needing only seven pitches to do it, and Ryan Walker walked Mookie Betts to open the ninth but got Freeman to fly out, struck out Will Smith and got Hernandez to hit into a force.
Yamamoto lasted only 4⅔ innings and he allowed six hits and a season-high five walks along with five runs, matching his season high. He entered the day with the league's third-best ERA, 2.20, and second-best batting average against, .186.
Webb spoke the day before about not making too much of the series against the Giants' historical rival and the reigning World Series champs, even with the Giants charging in just a step behind the Dodgers. 'It doesn't feel like it's bigger than it needs to be,' he said. 'It's just two good teams playing each other.'
The Dodgers don't get overly amped for any particular opponent, the thinking in the Giants' clubhouse went, so why should they? Schmitt's casual trot out of the box was indicative of this approach; Los Angeles? Just another team.
Friday's matchup was, as Giants manager Bob Melvin said, a classic, with two All-Star candidates on the mound. Saturday's presents quite an experience contrast, with Landen Roupp (17 big-league starts) up against three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw (434).