The Los Angeles Dodgers were something of streak-busters Tuesday night with their 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics. It marked their first win at Oakland Coliseum since July 14, 2001, and snapped the A’s overall six-game winning streak.
Los Angeles entered play having lost 14 of 16 games all-time in Oakland, including eight in a row. They played their way to a rare win the head-to-head matchup by scoring a run in each of the first three innings and riding Rich Hill’s strong performance against his former team.
Justin Turner’s double in the first inning led to a run scoring one batter later on Kiké Hernandez’s RBI groundout, and a safety squeeze on Austin Barnes’ bunt extended the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0 in the second inning.
Cody Bellinger added an RBI single with two outs in the third, which also knocked Sean Manaea out of the game in what was his shortest start of the season.
While the Dodgers methodically were tacking on insurance runs, Hill kept the A’s off balance. He did issue a pair of two-out walks in each of the first two innings before retiring the side in order in the third.
Khris Davis’ rocket to the hole at shortstop went for a one-out infield single in the bottom of the fourth. Manny Machado made a terrific diving stop but couldn’t gain his footing and was left without a play. The hit was the A’s first of the game off Hill.
Nothing came of it, however, as he retired the next two batters faced. Oakland threatened again in the fifth thanks to back-to-back walks that put two on with nobody out. Hill thwarted the possibility of a rally by inducing a double play and pop-out to end the inning.
Hill faced more trouble in the bottom of the sixth when Matt Chapman led off with a double, and later surrendered a two-run home run to Davis. It represented a frustrating end to what was otherwise another encouraging outing for Hill.
But the two runs he allowed were offset in some regard as Joc Pederson’s pinch-hit double to lead off the seventh inning was cashed by Matt Kemp’s RBI flare single. Of note, Brian Dozier went 1-for-2 with three walks in his first game batting lead off since the trade.
On the pitching side, Dylan Floro, Scott Alexander, J.T. Chargois and Kenley Jansen combined for 3.2 shutout innings, retiring 11 of 12 batters faced (six strikeouts) to wrap up the win that put the Dodgers back in first place in the National League West.
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