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New York Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Giants hold on in wild game, sending Dodgers to seventh straight loss and enlivening their rivalry
SAN FRANCISCO — You asked for this. With a one-run lead, San Francisco Giants closer Camilo Doval came in to pitch the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were due up. The ballpark lights went down, and Doval's entrance music cranked up. Dodgers and Giants fans who spent the previous eight innings shouting each other down with cheers and chants kept the noise going, but it was the nervous kind of energy for the final inning. Advertisement It all came down to three outs and a one-run lead. The Giants had their All-Star closer on the mound, and the Dodgers were sending three All-Star hitters to the plate. If any of them reached, a fourth All-Star would represent the go-ahead run. It was a lively Giants-Dodgers game in mid-July at Oracle Park in front of a sold-out crowd. It was first place versus second place in the National League West, one of the best rivalries in one of the best venues in professional sports, and it came down to the game's final pitch. The Giants defeated the Dodgers 8-7 on Friday in the kind of wild game that Oracle Park doesn't often see at night. With warmer summer temperatures, balls to the outfield were carrying more than usual, which Jung Hoo Lee learned firsthand when he tripled over the outstretched glove of right fielder Teoscar Hernández. He would learn it over and over again as multiple balls were hit either off or over his outstretched glove later on in the game, aiding the Dodgers' comeback efforts. If you're looking for positive signs, consider that Lee had one two-hit game in the entire month of June, but he picked up his second three-hit game of July. The trend is heading in the right direction. The ball was also flying when Dominic Smith got backspin on an opposite-field homer that carried over the left-center fence, just like when Michael Conforto hit a two-run homer to chase starter Logan Webb from the game. Willy Adames hit a home run deep into right-center field, where a lot of his hard-hit balls have gone to die this season. Instead of making an incredulous 'I signed to play here for how many years?' face as the television cameras lingered on him, he jogged happily around the bases. It felt more like the natural order of things. Ohtani hit one into the water, the Dodgers' first splash hit since 2021, but it was a home run that probably only happened because of the weather. More so than the other home runs, even. I think some wind pushed it just over the fence, too. (Fine. It was crushed, and he barely missed another homer to the opposite field a couple of innings later. It's OK to take a bold, courageous position here: The Giants would have been better off if Ohtani signed with them, and the Dodgers would have been worse off.) Advertisement The Giants led 8-2 heading into the sixth inning with Webb on the mound, which is typically the kind of win probability that comes in three digits instead of two. But after hitting Betts with a sinker to lead off the inning, he allowed two doubles before the homer to Conforto. Randy Rodríguez finished off the inning without incident, but he allowed a rare run — only the third time he's been scored upon in 40 outings this year — to bring the Dodgers within one. It set up Doval and the ninth-inning gauntlet, where he had to get through at least three Hall of Famers to save the one-run lead. After getting Ohtani to make the inning's first out with a grounder into the teeth of the infield shift, Betts singled. With pinch-runner Esteury Ruíz stealing second on the first pitch, Freeman walked to bring Will Smith to the plate with the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on base. Doval got him to ground out into a game-ending double play. While the audio of the telecast wasn't up in the press box, I have five dollars that says announcer Mike Krukow dropped a 'ha ha ha, laugher' description after the final out. It was well earned — one of the most well earned in the history of the running gag. Friday was one game out of 162, and there's always a risk of reading too much into any single game. Before the sixth inning started, you were on your way to reading an article about how the Giants had Webb and the Dodgers didn't. It was the starkest difference between the two teams for the first half of Friday night's game, with the Giants having an ace who could throw seven or eight innings and save his bullpen, and the Dodgers struggling to find five consistent starters. Then Webb collapsed, and the game got much closer, but the Giants bailed him out, as if they were releasing a kinked hose that had been building up six years' worth of run support. It's the first time he's gotten a win after allowing more than three runs since 2022. Advertisement No, the story of the game is that the juice is back in the Giants and Dodgers rivalry. It never left, but it hadn't been as robust in recent years. When the Giants signed Adames to a franchise-record deal, his projected performance was the most important part of the deal. In a big-picture sense, though, a game like Friday night's was the real reason. Not just because he hit a home run and a triple, driving in three runs, but because the Giants were trying to build a roster that could get a sold-out crowd fired up for a game against the Dodgers in an honest-to-goodness NL West race. Adames' mere presence was part of the crowd noise, boosted by the idea that the Giants could acquire coveted players, too. Rafael Devers took his 100th plate appearance as a Giant in a mostly uneventful game for him, but he's a part of the calculus, too. The raucous crowd wasn't thinking about him specifically, but he's a part of the idea that this roster might compete with the Dodgers. Offseasons are about adding wins and building rosters, but that's in the abstract. Every transaction and move is done for a reason that's much simpler than winning or contending. It's about providing entertainment for the people who paid for it. The signings of Lee and Adames, the trade for Devers and the extension for Webb are to make fans loud and happy, ideally when the Giants are winning. It's even more ideal when the Dodgers experience their first seven-game losing streak since 2017, but now you're getting greedy. It was a Friday night Giants-Dodgers game at Oracle Park, and some of the best players in baseball were there. The crowd was loud, and the stakes were high. You asked for this. Be more careful next time. Or, if the Giants-Dodgers games keep being as fun, keep at it. Just mix in a cup of calming chamomile tea every once in a while. (Photo of Willy Adames: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
Reuters
4 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Willy Adames, Giants hand Dodgers 7th straight setback
July 12 - Willy Adames drove in three runs with a triple and a home run, Dominic Smith added a solo homer and the host San Francisco Giants continued the Los Angeles Dodgers' misery with an 8-7 victory in the opener of a three-game series Friday night. Jung Hoo Lee also had three RBIs and Matt Chapman scored twice for the Giants, who have won seven of nine while trimming the Dodgers' lead in the National League West from nine games to four. Shohei Ohtani launched a home run into the San Francisco Bay, his 32nd of the season, and Michael Conforto also homered for the Dodgers, who lost their seventh straight. After the teams traded one-run leads in the early going on the strength of homers by Ohtani and Adames, his 12th, the Giants appeared to break the game open with a five-run fifth. Smith triggered the uprising with a leadoff homer, his second, before Adames had the big hit, a two-out, two-run triple. Dodgers starter Dustin May (5-6) was pulled immediately prior to Adames' hit, charged with seven runs on five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out four. Staked to an 8-2 lead, Giants All-Star Logan Webb (9-6) couldn't get out of the sixth inning, during which the Dodgers clawed back into the game with four runs. Teoscar Hernandez had a two-run double before Conforto belted his eighth homer, a two-run shot, ending Webb's night. The right-hander allowed six runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with one walk and six strikeouts. The Dodgers got within 8-7 in the seventh on an RBI single by Will Smith, but Tyler Rogers threw a scoreless eighth before closer Camilo Doval pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth by getting Will Smith to ground into a game-ending double play for his 15th save. Lee finished with three hits, while Patrick Bailey joined Adames with two in the Giants' highest scoring home game since a 9-5 win over the Boston Red Sox on June 22. Hyeseong Kim collected a double and two singles, Mookie Betts had two hits and scored twice, and Will Smith also had two hits for the Dodgers, whose seven-game losing streak is their longest since an 11-gamer in September of 2017. --Field Level Media
Al Arabiya
4 days ago
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee each drive in three runs as Giants send Dodgers to seventh straight loss
Willy Adames homered in the second inning and hit a two-run triple in San Francisco's five-run fifth, and the Giants sent the rival Los Angeles Dodgers to their seventh straight loss with an 8-7 victory Friday night. San Francisco pulled within four games of the first-place Dodgers in the NL West. Dominic Smith homered leading off the fifth after Jung Hoo Lee's two-run triple in the fourth put San Francisco ahead against Dustin May (5-6). Lee beat out an infield single in the fifth to drive in another run. Shohei Ohtani hit his 32nd home run of the season into McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall for a go-ahead two-run shot in the third inning. Ohtani connected after Hyeseong Kim's leadoff single marked the first hit of the night against Logan Webb (9-6), who walked Ohtani in a nine-pitch battle to begin the game and finished with six runs, six hits, and six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Camilo Doval allowed Mookie Betts' single, then walked Freddie Freeman before getting Will Smith to ground into a game-ending double play for his 15th save. Ohtani crushed a 91.1 mph cutter on Webb's first offering of the at-bat, and the ball traveled 410 feet. Michael Conforto's two-run homer in the sixth chased Webb after he hit Betts with a pitch. The Dodgers have their worst losing streak since Sept. 2-11, 2017, when they dropped 11 in a row. May, who beat the Giants on June 15, was tagged for seven earned runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Key play: Following his triple, Lee was called out at home on a fly by Casey Schmitt and a sensational throw by left fielder Conforto. The Giants challenged the call, and it was upheld on review. Key stat: Ohtani's blast marked the 65th home run into the water by an opponent in Oracle Park's 25-year history and 171st in all–35 of those belong to home run king Barry Bonds. Up next: Ohtani (0-1, 1.50 ERA) pitches Saturday opposite Giants RHP Landen Roupp (6-5, 3.39).
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Willy Adames, Jung Hoo Lee each drive in three runs as Giants send Dodgers to seventh straight loss
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Willy Adames homered in the second inning and hit a two-run triple in San Francisco's five-run fifth and the Giants sent the rival Los Angeles Dodgers to their seventh straight loss with an 8-7 victory Friday night. San Francisco pulled within four games of the first-place Dodgers in the NL West. Dominic Smith homered leading off the fifth after Jung Hoo Lee's two-run triple in the fourth put San Francisco ahead against Dustin May (5-6). Lee beat out an infield single in the fifth to drive in another run. Shohei Ohtani hit his 32nd home run of the season into McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall for a go-ahead two-run shot in the third inning. Ohtani connected after Hyeseong Kim's leadoff single marked the first hit of the night against Logan Webb (9-6), who walked Ohtani in a nine-pitch battle to begin the game and finished with six runs, six hits and six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Camilo Doval allowed Mookie Betts' single then walked Freddie Freeman before getting Will Smith to ground into a game-ending double play for his 15th save. Ohtani crushed a 91.1 mph cutter on Webb's first offering of the at-bat and the ball traveled 410 feet. Michael Conforto's two-run homer in the sixth chased Webb after he hit Betts with a pitch. The Dodgers have their worst losing streak since Sept. 2-11 2017, when they dropped 11 in a row. May, who beat the Giants on June 15, was tagged for seven earned runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Key playFollowing his triple, Lee was called out at home on a fly by Casey Schmitt and a sensational throw by left fielder Conforto. The Giants challenged the call and it was upheld on review. Key stat Ohtani's blast marked the 65th home run into the water by an opponent in Oracle Park's 25-year history and 171st in all — 35 of those belong to home run king Barry Bonds. Up next Ohtani (0-1, 1.50 ERA) pitches Saturday opposite Giants RHP Landen Roupp (6-5, 3.39). ___ AP MLB:
