LOS ANGELES — The Giants have never scored more runs in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium than they did this weekend.
In the opener, the Giants shrugged off a no-hit bid to come back against a vulnerable Dodgers bullpen in the most bonkers game of the year. The next night, they destroyed the Dodgers in the club’s biggest shutout win in the rivalry since the Polo Grounds.
For Sunday’s finale, the Giants put together a complete effort, with ace Logan Webb tossing seven strong innings and hitters of all experience levels producing in a 7-3 win.
It added up to 29 runs in three games and the Giants’ first three-game sweep in Dodger Stadium since 2012. The once-in-a-decade series caps a 6-0 road trip for the Giants (39-32), who have surged past the Dodgers into second place in the National League West. A restless Dodger Stadium crowd sent intermittent boos through the weekend, mostly based on their team’s poor performance.
The Giants have won seven straight overall and are 22-9 since May 15 — over a month of the best baseball in the league.
“What are we, 70 games into the season?” Webb (7IP, 8H, 2R, 2BB, 5K) said postgame. “It is cool, but there’s also a long way to go. I think we’re more excited about the road trip itself than the three games here.”
Early on, the Giants were swinging like it was a getaway day — which, of course, it was. Tony Gonsolin retired the side in the first in nine pitches, and needed only 10 to get through the second. He then struck out two in a 10-pitch third.
Blake Sabol and Michael Conforto both went down on one pitch, and Thairo Estrada saw just two in his first plate appearance. Twenty-three of Gonsolin’s first 29 pitches were strikes, and the Giants weren’t doing any damage against them.
But the Giants struck in the fourth. By now, they’re used to going on extended droughts only to snap out with scoring binges. They scored the first run in the game before recording their first hit, combining a walk, hit-by-pitch and sacrifice fly to scratch a score. Then Mike Yastrzesmki delivered a two-out single to add another one with SF’s first base hit.
That gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, with Webb holding the Dodgers scoreless despite a bases-loaded jam in the first.
Webb allowed a run on a walk and two singles before recording an out in the fourth, but preserved the Giants lead. He pumped his fist on the mound as Thairo Estrada cut down JD Martinez at home on a grounder.
To hold the Dodgers at one run, Webb retired Miguel Vargas, Jason Hayward and Michael Busch. As tough as the top of Los Angeles’ batting order is, the bottom half is far from daunting — especially with James Outman having cooled off from his red-hot April and Giant-killer Max Muncy sidelined with a hamstring injury.
A brutal miscue on a routine ball in left field by David Peralta allowed the Giants to add on two singles in the fifth (Peralta’s clear error was eventually overruled to a double by a generous home scorer).
The Dodgers responded with a run to make it 3-2 in the fifth, but Webb again danced out of danger by inducing an inning-ending double play.
And in a rare instance this year, the Giants provided Webb plenty of run support. For the third straight inning, the Giants scored, this time hanging four in the sixth inning.
By pulling a double down the left field line, Luis Matos drove in the first two runs of his MLB career. He then scored on a single from fellow rookie Blake Sabol, touching home for the seventh time in his first four games.
On Matos’ run, James Outman’s throw from center split the third base line in half. For most of the weekend, the Dodgers looked like a team that needed to be unplugged and plugged back in. They displayed indiscipline and often looked slow, uncharacteristic traits for the past 20 years of the franchise.
Matos finished the game 1-for-4. Only Willie McCovey has scored as many runs in their first four games as a Giant as Matos (7). The 21-year-old has drawn five walks and has yet to strike out in his 16 plate appearances, demonstrating complete command of the one area the Giants wanted to see him improve in this season.
LaMonte Wade Jr. added an RBI single off a left-handed reliever. He has 11 hits against southpaws this year after coming into the season with seven in his career.
By the time Webb exited the game after seven solid innings, the Giants led 7-2.
“The fact that he’s nearing 100 innings pitched is really huge for us,” manager Gabe Kapler said postgame. “Every inning Logan Webb covers means we don’t have to have a bullpen arm cover one inning. He’s becoming one of the more durable and dependable starting pitchers in baseball — I know that’s his goal, to pitch deep into every game…That’s what a horse does, they post and they pitch deep into games.”
Wade was one of seven Giants to touch home, joining veterans Joc Pederosn, Michael Conforto, Brandon Crawford and Mike Yastrzemski, plus rookies Sabol and Matos.
This weekend was Matos, Casey Schmitt and Patrick Bailey’s first trip to Dodger Stadium. They know they’re not all like this; iff history serves, they’ll never sweep the Dodgers here again.
Yet for years, the Dodgers had the edge over San Francisco in young talent, in dynamic arms coming out of the bullpen, in athleticism and defense. The Giants still don’t have the same star power as Hollywood’s club, but this weekend was a manifestation of the tides turning.
“I just think you’re starting to see a cohesive unit, one where one batter passes the torch to the next batter and believes in the guy behind him,” Kapler said. “From a pitching perspective, we’re really beginning to trust our bullpen arms in the biggest moments and not just one or two, but the entire bullpen, which can’t say was true all the way through the season but is definitely true now.”
- Dodger fans booed when Casey Schmitt got hit with a pitch in the right arm and took what they perceived to be too long of a break while he writhed in pain. Fans also booed when reliever Scott Alexander to subbed out after injuring his hamstring covering first in the ninth inning.
“Yeah, I’m not too happy about that, to be honest,” Webb said postgame.
Schmitt’s x-rays came back negative, Kapler said. Alexander has been dealing with hamstring issues for over a week; this was his first appearance in 10 days.
- Alex Cobb, who hit the injured list shortly before first pitch with an oblique strain, isn’t expected to miss significant time. He threw a bullpen session this weekend that went well, but still felt a bit of tightness in his left side, Kapler said. He could return for the New York Mets series at the end of the month.
The Giants haven’t decided on a starter for Monday’s series opener against the Padres in Oracle Park. Keaton Winn, recalled for Cobb, could be an option.
- Kapler mentioned Blake Sabol’s ability to catch at the big league level as a key component in the club’s recent success. Sabol caught Webb on Sunday, calling most of his pitches. The rookie went 2-for-4 and has been effective from the plate for almost the entire season.