Winners in three of their last four against the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to guarantee themselves a series on Saturday afternoon.
Chase Utley made Jeff Samardzija work to open the game, with the right-hander throwing needing pitches to get a strikeout. Justin Turner lined a fastball to right-center field with two outs, but was stranded as Samardzija jammed Adrian Gonzalez to get a grounder that end the inning.
Scott Kazmir needed just four pitches to retire the first two batters faced, but then ran into trouble. Brandon Belt and Buster Posey both drew a walk, then Matt Duffy lined Kazmir’s first pitch into right field for an RBI single.
Brandon Crawford added an RBI single of his own before Kazmir could get out of the inning. Trayce Thompson led off the second with a base hit to center, then aggressively tagged from first base on a fly ball to left field.
Thompson’s heads-up baserunning paid off as Yasmani Grandal knocked a one-out base hit into center that cut the Giants’ lead in half. After Howie Kendrick worked a walk, Kazmir was unable to get a sacrifice bunt down.
Samardzija then struck out Utley a second time to keep the Giants’ lead at 2-1. Grandal erased a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second by quickly coming out from behind the plate on Samardzija’s sac-bunt attempt to start a double play.
Kendrick then did his part to aid Kazmir by laying out for a diving catch on a slicing fly ball to end the inning. Both pitches tossed a 1-2-3 third inning, marking the first time either had done so on the afternoon.
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Joc Pederson put a charge into one and had to settle for a 420-foot double high off the wall in right-center field. Grandal drew a walk to put two on with one out, but the Dodgers in a sense ran themselves out of the inning.
Pederson was thrown out trying to steal third base, which proved costly as Kendrick lined Samardzija’s next pitch into right field. Grandal went first to third base on the single, but both runners were stranded as Kazmir grounded out.
A Duffy leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourth was erased on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out. Mac Williamson then flied out to end the inning.
Turner sparked a two-out rally with a line-drive single to center. Gonzalez was also all over a Samardzija offering, clubbing a game-tying RBI double to right-center field.
That was the end of the road for Samardzija, who gave way to George Kontos with a runner in scoring position. Kontos kept the game tied at 2-2 by striking out Thompson.
Kazmir gave up a leadoff single to Joe Panik in the bottom of the sixth — the Giants’ first hit since the first inning — then walked Belt to put two on with no outs. Louis Coleman entered and induced two ground balls, but neither were turned for a double play.
The latter scored a run to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. J.P. Howell replaced Coleman and got out of the inning after walking Crawford. Kiké Hernandez led off the seventh with a walk and went first to third base on Utley’s single.
However, Hernandez was caught in a rundown on a Corey Seager comebacker that Giants reliever Josh Osich snagged. Hunter Strickland retired Turner and handed the ball over to Javier Lopez, who walked Gonzalez to load the bases with two outs.
Cory Gearrin took over but struggled to locate the strike zone, falling behind 3-0 to Thompson. Gearrin fought back to work a full count, but walked Thompson to tie the game. Adam Liberatore kept the game locked in a 3-3 tie by setting the Giants down in order in the bottom of the seventh.
Gerrain erased a one-out walk in the eighth by getting pinch-hitter A.J. Ellis to ground into an inning-ending double play. Seager hit a one-out single off Santiago Casilla in the ninth but was erased on a double play one batter later.
Joe Blanton worked around a one-out walk to get through a scoreless bottom of the ninth, his second inning of work, to send the game into extras. Chris Stratton saw his second pitch of the 10th inning hit for an opposite-field home run by Gonzalez that gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
Kenley Jansen blew the save opportunity, allowing a one-out double to Denard Span, followed by a game-tying RBI single to Panik. The blown save was Jansen’s third this season.