Justin Turner produced three doubles to extend his hitting streak to nine games but it was one of the few highlights for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they again were defeated by the San Francisco Giants, 2-1.
The Dodgers’ losing streak now sits at five games, one shy of tying a season-worst, and they’ve dropped to two games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West.
There was a benches-clearing incident in the bottom of the seventh inning when Giants catcher Nick Hundley appeared to take exception to Yasiel Puig showing frustration over fouling a pitch off.
They exchanged words, Puig then shoved Hundley, and a brawl broke out. Both benches and bullpens spilled onto the field, and Puig and Hundley were ejected once the dust eventually settled.
That seemingly provided a bit of a spark for the Dodgers. Turner’s third double of the night was cashed in by Manny Machado on an RBI single that tied the game with two outs in the eighth inning.
But pitching one day earlier than initially expected, Kenta Maeda struggled out of the bullpen. He allowed a pair of base hits to start the ninth that eventually cost him. Alen Hanson, who previously broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single, pushed the Giants ahead with another run-scoring base hit.
Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single and stole second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but was stranded by Max Muncy.
Alex Wood was strong in his return from the 10-day disabled list, holding the Giants to just the one run on three hits while notching six strikeouts against one walk over five innings.
The run Wood did allow was self-inflicted as he hit Evan Longoria with a pitch to start the second inning. A base hit followed and after collecting back-to-back strikeouts, Wood surrendered the aforementioned RBI single to Hanson.
Before Maeda, the Dodgers bullpen turned in a stellar and much-needed effort. J.T. Chargois, Caleb Ferguson and Dylan Floro combined to hold the Giants to one hit and one walk over three shutout innings.
