© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — For the second straight game, the San Francisco Giants were shutout by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who evened the opening series with a 9-0 victory on Sunday night.
Chris Stratton cruised through the first three innings, his only baserunner coming when he hit Kyle Farmer with a pitch in the third inning. It wasn’t until he gave up his first hit of the game, a fourth-inning leadoff single to Corey Seager, that Stratton ran into trouble.
With runners on first and second, Cody Bellinger flew out to left field for the second out of the fourth inning. Seager sprinted home as Yasiel Puig, who was on first, ran into a pickle. He slid back to first safely, which counted the run. Shortly after, Puig was caught stealing second to end the inning.
“We couldn’t quite handle that or execute that,” Bruce Bochy said. “Give them credit. Puig, he got back in time. I’m sure Joe feels if he had a do over he’d throw that ball sooner, but they manufactured a run there.”
Another leadoff hit led to the Dodgers adding four runs to their lead in the sixth. After doubling into left field, Chris Taylor was brought home by Puig’s double, which ended Stratton’s night. He threw 88 pitches over 5.1 innings in his 2018 debut; allowing five hits, three runs, and striking out four.
Puig completed Stratton’s pitching line when he scored off Yasmani Grandal’s single after Josh Osich entered the game. One batter later, Cody Bellinger hit his first home run of the season to put the Dodgers ahead 5-0. Robert Gomez relieved Osich in the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth, but gave up a bases-loaded double to Enrique Hernandez that put the Dodgers ahead 7-0.
Gomez failed to record an out in the eighth and Reyes Moronta finished the inning, but the Dodgers added another two runs to their lead. Joc Pederson drove in a run with an RBI groundout and was followed up by Austin Barnes, who’s RBI single gave the Dodgers a 9-0 lead.
Aside from Stratton, the Giants sent out the same lineup as they did against Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood to face Rich Hill. That lineup only amassed nine hits and two runs while striking out 12 times over the first two games.
It brought back similar results on Sunday evening.
Buster Posey went 2-for-4 and was the only Giant with a multiple hits against the Dodgers. Otherwise, the Giants only came up with four other hits; singles from Joe Panik, Hunter Pence, and Brandon Crawford, and a double from Brandon Belt.
After going down in order through the first two innings, the Giants loaded the bases with two outs in the third and fourth, but they were unable to score in either inning.
Belt led off the inning with a walk and reached third on a single from Crawford, who was bunted to second by Stratton. Panik loaded the bases by coaxing a walk, but Andrew McCutchen flew out to end the inning.
Posey started the fourth with a single and Belt doubled him to third after back-to-back strikeouts. The Dodgers then intentionally walked Crawford to bring up Stratton, who struck out for the third out.
Two innings later, Posey started the sixth with a double and even stole third, but the Giants were unable to bring him home. They finished the game 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, which puts them 1-for-28 to start the season.
Keaton Moore covers the Giants for KNBR.com. Follow Keaton on Twitter at @KeatonAMoore.