Less than one week removed from playing 15 innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers again found themselves on the wrong end an extra-innings game, this time falling to the San Francisco Giants, 7-5, on an Andrew McCutchen walk-off home run in the 14th inning.
Just like the game with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Wilmer Font was saddled with the loss. Though, this time it came in his first inning of work. Font immediately faced a tall order, as soft singles from Kelby Tomlinson and Joe Panik put runners on the corners with nobody out.
McCutchen fouled several fastballs off until crushing a three-run homer on the 12 pitch of the at-bat. McCutchen finished the day 6-for-7 with four RBI.
The Dodgers fell to 2-6 and are off to their worst start since 1976. Moreover, the team is 0-4 in one-run games this season and mired in four-game losing streak.
Before McCutchen’s seventh career walk-off home run, the Dodgers strung together hits to take a lead in the top of the 14th. Yasiel Puig and Cody Bellinger sparked the rally with back-to-back singles that left runners on the corners.
Logan Forsythe’s sharp grounder got by a drawn-in Evan Longoria, who had previously bobbled a couple choppers but recovered earlier in the game.
Before a battle of the bullpens ensued, Rich Hill faced the Giants for a second time in as many starts this season. Though it went much different than his 2018 debut as the veteran southpaw immediately found himself in trouble.
Following a Panik single, McCutchen pulled an RBI double down the left-field line to give San Francisco an early lead. Joc Pederson’s attempted slide to cut the ball off proved futile as he came up empty, then bobbled the ball before relaying it to the infield.
Hill got Evan Longoria on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out to end the first inning, starting a string of seven consecutive batters retired. McCutchen’s leadoff single in the fourth broke up the streak.
Buster Posey followed with a go-ahead two-run home run that gave the Giants a lead. The homer was Posey’s first since Aug. 8, 2017. Hill threw 31 pitches in the fourth, which was his final inning. He allowed the three runs, scattered five hits and finished with six strikeouts.
Although Chris Taylor’s two-out RBI single got the Dodgers on the board in the third inning, they largely continued to spin their wheels at the plate. Chris Stratton walked Corey Seager and Pederson in the fifth to put two on with one out, only to retire pinch-hitter Matt Kemp and Taylor.
Stratton gave way to Jake Osich in the sixth after allowing a leadoff single to Seager and walking Yasiel Puig to put two on with nobody out. He retired Cody Bellinger but walked Logan Forsythe to load the bases.
Cory Gearrin came on and had his first pitch cross up Posey, allowing a run to score. Kiké Hernandez’s RBI groundout tied the game before the right-handed reliever could end the inning.
Brandon Belt’s RBI double off Tony Cingrani gave the Giants another lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but that was short-lived as Utley lifted a game-tying home run over the bricks in right field in the seventh.
Kenta Maeda stranded a leadoff double and infield single by striking out Posey and Evan Longoria in the bottom half of the inning.
The Dodgers had another look at potentially taking the lead in the eighth, when Kyle Farmer’s pinch-hit single put two on with one out. Tony Watson kept his former team at bay, however, retiring Seager and Yasmani Grandal.
In addition to leaving men on base, the Dodgers were handicapped in that Farmer was their last position player available off the bench. That led to an intriguing scenario in the 12th inning, when the Dodgers had two on with two outs.
Kiké Hernandez was intentionally walked with Clayton Kershaw in the on-deck circle. However, it instead was Hyun-Jin Ryu who batted, and struck out. Kershaw eventually got his opportunity in the 14th inning, striking out swinging with runners at first and second base.
Kenley Jansen put himself a jam in the bottom of the 12th as he allowed back-to-back singles to Panik and McCutchen. A sacrifice fly left runners at the corners, and McCutchen eventually stole second base, but both were stranded.
While he worked out of trouble, Jansen’s velocity was around 90-91 mph, or still not quite at his usual level.
