The magical season the Los Angeles Dodgers have enjoyed added another layer Sunday night as Kyle Farmer delivered a walk-off, two-run double in the 11th inning to complete a sweep of the San Francisco Giants. Farmer’s pinch-hit appearance was his MLB debut.
The Giants manufactured a run against Luis Avilan in the top half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. Corey Seager’s one-out double in the bottom of the 11th led to the Giants intentionally walking Justin Turner and setting the table for Farmer.
For the Giants, it was the bullpen’s second collapse in the game. Conor Gillaspie’s pinch-hit home run in the eighth landed just beyond Yasiel Puig’s reach on a leaping attempt and broke up a scoreless tie.
The home run was Josh Fields’ seventh allowed this season. The Giants’ lead did not last long, however.
Chris Taylor nearly hit a game-tying home run off Hunter Strickland to lead off bottom of the eighth inning, and it in some sense was a sign of what lied ahead for the right-hander.
Strickland walked the bases loaded; two were four-pitch free passes and the third was to intentionally put Cody Bellinger aboard. Despite Strickland throwing five straight pitches for ball, Austin Barnes swung on a 1-0 count and flied out to leave the bases loaded.
While Strickland managed to escape trouble, Sam Dyson wasn’t as lucky in the ninth. Chase Utley reached on an infield single to start the inning, then easily picked Dyson’s pocket for a stolen base. Puig’s line-drive RBI single into center field tied the game.
It was not billed as pitchers’ duel but Madison Bumgarner and Hyun-Jin Ryu went toe-to-toe in the series finale. Ryu retired six of the first seven batters faced and did not allow a hit until Gorkys Hernandez led off the third with a single to left field.
Prior to that point the Giants’ lone baserunner came on Buster Posey’s leadoff walk in the second inning. The Giants’ best threat against Ryu came in the seventh when Joe Panik and Hunter Pence both singled to center to put two runners on with nobody out.
Posey’s fly ball to deep right field allowed Panik to tag. The Giants then ran themselves out of the inning as Brandon Crawford’s line drive resulted in an inning-ending double play on a Kiké Hernandez catch and strong throw to the plate to nab Panik.
It was the Dodgers’ third double play of the game. Ryu finished at 85 pitches, five hits allowed and seven strikeouts over seven shutout innings in what his best start of the season.
Bumarner retired 11 in a row after allowing a one-out base hit to Corey Seager in the first inning. The string was snapped on a Cody Bellinger two-out walk in the fourth, which was followed by a Logan Forsythe single.
Both runners were stranded, however, as Austin Barnes flied out. Bumgarner’s next brush with some trouble came in the sixth inning as he allowed singles to Seager and Bellinger. The Dodgers to that point only had three hits in the game, with Seager providing two of them.
Forsythe grounded out to third base to end the threat. Bumgarner allowed a base hit to Hernandez in the seventh but struck out Puig and pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal to end the inning.
The Dodgers earned their MLB-leading seventh win in games in which they trailed entering the ninth inning.
