A battle of 2025 All-Star pitchers saw Yoshinobu Yamamoto outduel Robbie Ray, and the Los Angeles Dodgers withstood Tanner Scott’s seventh blown save of the season to defeat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2, in 11 innings to take the rubber match of the series at Oracle Park.
The Dodgers head into the All-Star break on a modest two-game winning streak and with the best record in the National League at 58-39. That additionally has them 5.5 games ahead of the San Diego Padres for first place in the NL West.
Ray wasn’t hurt by hard contact in the first inning and retired nine batters in a row on just 24 pitches. The Dodgers’ didn’t have their first baserunner until Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff walk in the fourth. That came with some good fortune as Ray had two pitches that appeared to be strikes called for ball.
Mookie Betts followed with a walk as well and Freddie Freeman broke up Ray’s no-hitter with a one-out RBI double. That gave Freeman back-to-back games with an extra-base hit, as his previous double on Saturday snapped an 0-for-12 skid.
Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages both left two runners in scoring position, resulting in the Dodgers holding just a 1-0 lead.
Home plate umpire John Bacon’s strike zone again worked in the Dodgers’ favor in the fifth inning when an outside pitch to Miguel Rojas wasn’t called ball four. Rojas wound up ending the at-bat with his fifth home run of the season, leaving him one away from matching last year’s total.
The solo blast that gave the Dodgers some margin for error at a 2-0 lead was also Rojas’ fourth home run in his last 16 games. Rojas’ offensive production will be a needed boost as Max Muncy faces an extended recovery from a bone bruise in his left knee and several Dodgers stars remain mired in respective slumps.
Yamamoto completed seven scoreless innings and held the Giants to just five baserunners — three hits and two walks. He finished with seven strikeouts. Sunday was the fourth time this year Yamamoto pitched a season-high seven innings.
It was a tremendous bounce-back effort for Yamamoto after he failed to make it through the first inning in his last start.
The Dodgers nearly squandered it as Scott surrendered a game-tying home run to pinch-hitter Luis Matos with one out in the bottom of the ninth. The blown save was Scott’s seventh this season, tying a career high he initially set in 2022.
Freeman’s RBI bloop single gave the Dodgers another lead in the 11th inning, and Teoscar Hernández added onto it with the Giants unable to make a play on more soft contact. Andy Pages then hit a flare into shallow right field for an RBI single that capped off the inning.
Excluding 2020, this weekend’s series was the latest point the Dodgers and Giants played in the Bay Area for the first time in a given season since both teams moved to the West Coast.
Dodgers All-Stars 2025
Shohei Ohtani (designated hitter), Will Smith (catcher) and Freddie Freeman (first base) are going to represent the Dodgers as National League starters in the All-Star Game at Truist Park.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw were also named to the NL roster among pitchers. However, Yamamoto was replaced by Andrew Abbott of the Cincinnati Reds due to starting on Sunday. Kershaw is expected to pitch at some point during the 95th Midsummer Classic.
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