Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants Box Score on Sep 12, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Sep 13, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yasiel Puig capped a four-run fourth inning with a two-run double, and Clayton Kershaw combined with three relievers to protect a lead, allowing the Los Angeles Dodgers to snap an 11-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.

Chase Utley homered into the San Francisco Bay, and Cody Bellinger reached base in five consecutive plate appearances, three times via intentional walks, as the Dodgers ended the longest skid in their West Coast history with their first win since Sept. 1.

The victory, coupled with Arizona's 4-2 home loss to the Colorado Rockies, allowed the Dodgers (93-52) to extend their lead atop the National League West to 10 games over the Diamondbacks (83-62).

Kelby Tomlinson had a home run off Kershaw for the Giants, who still have a chance to win the three-game series when the clubs face off one more time Wednesday night.

Kershaw (17-3) allowed eight hits and a walk in six innings, but he limited the Giants to two runs, only one of which was earned. Los Angeles held a 4-2 lead when he was pulled from the game.

The Dodgers are now 21-3 in games started by their ace this season.

Right-handers Ross Stripling, Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen combined for three innings of six-hit, one-run relief, with Jansen surviving a rocky ninth inning for his 37th save.

Jansen allowed consecutive one-out singles to Denard Span, Joe Panik and Hunter Pence in the ninth to load the bases. He then struck out Buster Posey on a full count and fanned Nick Hundley on three pitches to end it.

The Giants (57-90) had closed within 4-3 against Stripling in the seventh inning on a fielder's choice ground ball by Pence, scoring Span.

Stripling then got Posey to ground into a double play, ending the threat.

Justin Turner doubled home Chris Taylor, who had singled, for a Dodgers insurance run in the eighth off the fifth Giants pitcher, right-hander Derek Law, making it a two-run game.

Right-hander Johnny Cueto (7-8) took the loss for the Giants, who were beaten at home by the Dodgers for just the eighth time in the past 29 meetings.

Puig, Bellinger and Taylor had two hits apiece for the Dodgers, who were playing their second game on a 10-game trip.

The Dodgers stranded 13 baserunners in the game, the Giants 11.

Pence and Panik collected three hits each, while Tomlinson, Span and Austin Slater added two apiece for the Giants, who out-hit the Dodgers 14-9.

The Giants led 1-0 on Tomlinson's homer, his first of the season, before Utley's leadoff blast in the fourth, a "Splash Hit" at AT&T Park, the first of his career.

The Dodgers then caught a break when two defensive miscues by the Giants opened the door for the rest of the four-run uprising.

Kershaw followed Utley's blast with a liner to left-center that Giants left fielder Slater easily reached. However, Slater fanned on the catch attempt, allowing the ball to reach the fence.

It was generously scored a double.

Taylor then grounded to shortstop Tomlinson, who easily had Kershaw trying to advance to third. But the throw pulled third baseman Orlando Calixte away from the base, allowing Kershaw to slide in safely.

Again, no error was charged.

Corey Seager's sacrifice fly, which could have been the third out of the inning, scored Kershaw to give the Dodgers the lead, and Puig's two-run double off the left field fence followed an intentional walk to Bellinger, making it 4-1.

Cueto was pulled at that point, having allowed four runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out eight in a laborious 101-pitch effort.

NOTES: Dodgers 1B/OF Cody Bellinger's three intentional walks were the most in the majors since Washington Nationals RF Bryce Harper had three on May 8, 2016. The last Dodger to get three intentional walks in a game was INF Jose Hernandez on June 4, 2004. ... Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced before the game that LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was skipped in the rotation in favor of RHP Kenta Maeda on Monday, will start Sunday against the Washington Nationals. ... Maeda's next start has been pushed back to next Wednesday or Thursday against the Philadelphia Phillies. ... Major League Baseball made a scoring change in Friday's Giants game against the Chicago White Sox, crediting C Buster Posey with a steal of home in the sixth inning. The play originally was ruled a fielder's choice. It was Posey's 20th career steal, his sixth this season.