Emmet Sheehan had a no-hitter in his MLB debut but the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen again imploded, which eventually resulted in a 7-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants in 11 innings.
Sheehan was called up from Double-A Tulsa for a start Friday night in lieu of the Dodgers moving ahead with their previously-planned bullpen game. Sheehan benefitted from both a generous strike zone and stellar defensive play behind him to hold the Giants without a hit.
Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts specifically prevented the Giants from getting a hit, while Freddie Freeman made two impressive catches in foul territory. One of which saw Freeman’s momentum carry him into the protective netting off the first-base line.
Betts’ play was the most impressive of the three players, as he laid out for a diving catch to end the sixth inning. It was reminiscent of Betts’ catch that preserved Tyler Anderson’s no-hit bid last season.
Sheehan exited with the Dodgers holding a 4-0 lead that was taken during a four-run fifth inning. Will Smith opened the scoring with an RBI bloop single, J.D. Martinez ended a personal drought with a two-run double, and James Outman drove in a run on a base hit.
Sheehan’s outing was reminiscent of Ross Stripling completing 7.1 no-hit innings against the Giants in his MLB debut during the 2015 season.
Any thought of a Dodgers combined no-hitter quickly ended as Brusdar Graterol gave up a leadoff single in the seventh inning. Wilmer Flores then hit a two-run home run with one out that cut the Dodgers’ lead in half.
Victor González was entrusted with the eighth inning, and he gave up a base hit to Joc Pederson that brought a run in because of an error. Tayler Scott replaced González and promptly allowed the Giants to tie the game on a sacrifice fly. Intentionally walking Michael Conforto backfired as Casey Schmidt reached on an RBI infield single that gave the Giants a lead.
The Dodgers’ offense attempted to pick the team up off the mat when Rojas started a rally on his single and stolen base in the bottom of the ninth. After a single from Betts put runners at the corners, and Freeman’s blooper dropped in shallow right field for an RBI base hit that tied the game.
Caleb Ferguson again delivered in extra innings for the Dodgers, but Alex Vesia could not follow suit in the 11th as he allowed two runs.
L.A. had a chance in the bottom half of the inning when the Giants dropped a pop-up and threw the ball away, but Betts inexplicably ran into his second out on the bases.
Evan Phillips, Yency Almonte and Shelby Miller were not available.
Dodgers injuries
On top of losing a lead and the game to the Giants, the Dodgers saw David Peralta (left hamstring strain) and Chris Taylor (right knee pain) exit early because of respective injuries.
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