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Seventh inning rally seals Giants’ 6-4 victory over Dodgers

By

Keaton Moore

/

© Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants (12-13) stood 10 outs away from being beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers (11-13) on Friday night. However, they ended up defeating their archival 6-4 by roaring back with four runs in the eighth inning, a rally sparked by one of baseball’s rarities.

A balk.

Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Brandon Belt bunted against the shift to reach first safely. Although he was eventually tagged out on his way to third on a fielder’s choice hit by Austin Jackson, that would be the only out the Dodgers would record before the Giants regained the lead.

After Brandon Crawford coaxed a walk to put runners on first and second, Gorkys Hernandez brought the Giants within one run of the Dodgers with an RBI single. Kelby Tomlinson followed him up with a game-tying RBI double that left Hernandez at third.

Tony Cingrani had entered the game in the eighth, but Tomlinson’s double knocked him from the game. Pedro Baez took over, but he stumbled as he delivered his second pitch to Joe Panik; committing a balk, which brought home the go-ahead run.

Tomlinson advanced to third on Baez’s balk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Panik, putting the Giants ahead 6-4.

As loud as it got at AT&T Park after the Giants took the lead in the eighth, it was just as loud when they jumped ahead of the Dodgers with a pair of solo homers in the second.

Evan Longoria survived a 1-2 count, working Dodgers’ starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu to 3-2, before sending the seventh pitch he saw into the stands. His fifth homer of the year landed 425 feet from home plate, deep into the bleachers in right center field, giving the Giants their first lead of the game.

After seeing two pitches away from Ryu, Crawford launched his second home run of the season onto Levi’s Landing.

That proved all the Giants would get off Ryu, who held the Giants to four hits without a walk and struck out seven, while the Dodgers jumped on Derek Holland in the fourth.

Matt Kemp led off the inning with a walk and was doubled home by the next batter, Yasmani Grandal. Another walk put runners on second and first for Yasiel Puig, who doubled right down the left field line.

Grandal scored easily, tying the game, and so would’ve Bellinger had a fan not scooped up the ball.

The fan interference saved the run — temporarily.

Ryu worked Holland for nine pitches before doubling past third base. This time, there was no fan interference and Ryu’s hit put the Dodgers ahead 4-2.

In the same way as that fan’s over-eagerness got him kicked out of AT&T, Ryu’s go-ahead hit knocked Holland from the game after 3.1 innings of work. He allowed four hits and three runs while striking out three and walking four.

On the bright side, Friday night was the first of Holland’s five starts that ended with a Giants’ victory.

Pierce Johnson inherited the messy situation Holland left behind in the fourth and escaped without any further damage. He went on to pitch through the top of the fifth, allowing a hit, walk, and struck out Chris Taylor.

Johnson was relieved by Cory Gearrin in the sixth. He worked around a leadoff single, which reached third with two outs, to keep the Dodgers off the board.

After the Giants reacquired the lead, Tony Watson came in to pitch the eighth. After giving up a pair of singles, he beat Austin Barnes, the go-ahead run, in an 11-pitch at-bat with a fly out to left field. He yielded the mound to Hunter Strickland, who pitched a perfect ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.

On Saturday, the Giants and Dodgers will make up a rain out with a double header. After Chris Stratton takes on Walker Buehler in his second career start at 1:05 PM, Johnny Cueto will look to continue his dominance as he faces Alex Wood at 7:05 PM.

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