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Stranded: Dodgers Shut Out By Giants in San Francisco

By Stacie Wheeler

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The Dodgers had only been shutout once this season (in Arizona), but the offensive sparks seemed to have fizzled out the last three games. The Dodgers made Tim Hudson look like Cy Young in the 2-0 loss up in Frisco, and the Boys in Blue have now lost all four games up north so far this season. It was a story of stranded base runners and missed opportunities for the Dodgers, and they ended up leaving 11 men on base.

The Giants also left 8 men on base, and Carlos Frias was impressive in his start only allowing one run over 6 solid innings of work. The first run of the game came in the third inning for the Giants off three consecutive singles including the RBI single by catcher Buster Posey. The Giants scored again in the eighth thanks to a costly Kiké Hernandez error in left field and a wild pitch uncorked by Chris Hatcher.

The infield was as greasy and wet as Angel Pagan‘s hair. There were a combined 30 groundouts in the game.

Dodgers 0 7 1

Giants 2 8 1

WP- Hudson (2-3)

LP- Frias (3-1)

S- Casilla (10)

Joc Pederson started off the series with a booming leadoff double off the wall in left center field. The Dodgers unfortunately ended up stranding runners at first and third after a passed ball by Buster Posey and a walk to Adrian Gonzalez. Scott Van Slyke, whose improved defense I just recently wrote about, struck out looking against the veteran Tim Hudson to end the first inning up at AT&T Park.

Carlos Frias also gave up a double in the first inning to the Giants when Joe Panik hit one to deep center field where Joc Pederson was nowhere to be found. Angel Pagan then singled, and the Giants had runners at the corners, but with just one out. Pagan stole second while Posey struck out at the plate. Frias reared back to induce a groundout from Brandon Belt. Crisis diverted.

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With two outs in the second, Alex Guerrero dropped a single to center field. A wild pitch by Hudson is followed by a walk to the pitcher Frias. Joc Pederson grounded out to second, and the Dodgers stranded another two runners.

“Each team has had ample opportunity to get a run home.”- Vin Scully

Carlos Frias pitched a very nice 1-2-3 inning in the home half of the second, and Hudson did the same against the Dodgers in the top of the third.

The Giants finally broke through in the bottom of the third with three straight hits on two outs. Panik, Pagan and Posey all hit consecutive singles, and the Giants took a 1-0 lead. Then Frias walked Belt to load the bases up for homecoming boy Hunter Pence who was blown away with a cutter to squelch the rally.

“That sounds like an oxymoron. Panik hesitates.” -Vin Scully

The third Dodger hit of the night came with two outs in the top of the fourth when Andre Ethier managed to single past the wet infield, but Guerrero grounded out to strand the fifth runner of the night for the Dodgers.

Again, with two outs…Tim Hudson and Nori Aoki hit consecutive singles off Frias in the bottom of the fourth. The Dodgers luckily don’t have a Panik attack, and Frias was able to induce a pop out from the second baseman to end the threat.

Carlos Frias slammed his bat down on home plate after striking out in the fifth, and the crowd at AT&T Park let him have it. It’s okay, Carlos. You are a pitcher. Pederson grounded out, but Jimmy Rollins came up with a two-out single. Howie Kendrick flied out to Pence in right field, and the Dodgers stranded their sixth runner.

Jimmy Rollins started a nice double play in the fifth to get Buster Posey and Brandon Belt to finish off the scoreless frame.

Annoying Hunter Pence, who was welcomed back to San Francisco by his adoring fans, made a good catch to retire Adrian Gonzalez on a deep fly ball to right field in the sixth inning.

Carlos Frias pitched another perfect inning in the sixth, and he even made a nice play in the field on a comebacker to get Pence.

Carlos Frias pitched 6 innings and allowed 1 run on 7 hits with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks on 88 pitches.

Tim Hudson was done for the night after he allowed the one-out single to Alex Guerrero in the top of the seventh. The Dodgers got a big break thanks to a Joe Panik error. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner hit into a force play off of new San Francisco pitcher Jean Machi, but Panik threw the ball way past first base allowing Turner to get into scoring position. To be fair, third baseman Casey McGehee bobbled the ball at first then gave Panik a bad feed.

Bruce Bochy went to the bullpen again, and he brought in Javier Lopez to face Pederson with a runner at second and two outs. Joc and Rollins drew back-to-back walks, and the Dodgers loaded the bases. Bochy once again made the call to the pen, and this time he brought in Sergio Romo to face Howie Kendrick. Kendrick hit sharply back to the box on the second pitch he saw, and Romo briefly dropped the ball but recovered to throw out Howie at first.

Stranded runner count: 9

Tim Hudson pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed no runs on 5 hits with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks on an even 100 pitches.

Adam Liberatore pitched a scoreless seventh after he took over for Carlos Frias.

In the eighth, Van Slyke hit into a force play after Gonzo hit a leadoff single and was replaced by pinch-runner Enrique Hernandez. Yasmani Grandal lined out to short. SVS then got caught trying to sneak by Romo to second base, and the TOOTBLAN  would prove costly in the low-scoring game.

Chris Hatcher was the third Dodger pitcher of the night. Kiké Hernandez, who stayed in left field after pinch-running, dropped a fly ball hit by Belt in the bottom of the eighth. Belt advanced to third on a Pence groundout, and then the obligatory wild pitch brought in the second run of the night for the Giants. Brandon Crawford singled to extend the inning, but pinch-hitter Matt Duffy hit into a force play to mercifully end the frame.

Santiago Casilla came in for the ninth. Ethier popped out, Guerrero struck out and Juan Uribe‘s two-out pinch-hit single would bring up Joc Pederson who drew a walk. Jimmy Rollins hit into…wait for it…a groundout.

The Dodgers drop to 24-14 on the season, and suddenly the Giants have won four in a row. The series continues on Wednesday when Brett Anderson counters Tim Lincecum in Game 2.

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