The Los Angeles Dodgers faced another former teammate as Scott Kazmir made his first Major League start since 2016, and like with Alex Wood, got the better of him in a 6-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers extended their winning streak to six games, are in the midst of an impressive 10-1 stretch and can complete a sweep of the Giants on Sunday afternoon.
Kazmir’s return to the Majors was generally considered a success, as only Max Muncy managed to make hard contact. Muncy reached in both of his plate appearances against Kazmir, with a home run in the first inning that landed in McCovey Cove, and a one-out single in the fourth.
Those were the only hits the Dodgers managed against Kazmir over his four innings of work.
Austin Barnes doubled the Dodgers’ lead with a solo blast off Jarlin Garcia in the fifth, connecting for his first home run of the season. Offense otherwise was hard to come by until L.A. strung together a rally in the seventh inning.
Two batters after Gavin Lux blooped a leadoff single into center, Matt Beaty pulled an RBI double down the right-field line. DJ Peters then collected his second hit of the afternoon with an RBI single that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0.
Albert Pujols provided more insurance with an RBI single in the eighth, and Barnes brought home another on a safety squeeze.
That wound up looming large as Alex Vesia surrendered a two-run home run to Buster Posey before getting through the eighth inning.
Buehler extends streak
While the Dodgers initially struggled to create much separation, Walker Buehler did his part to keep the Giants at bay. The Giants did have a baserunner in each of the first four innings, but also hit into two double plays during that stretch.
The Giants’ biggest threat came in the bottom of the seventh when Brandon Crawford hit a leadoff double to give them their first runner in scoring position. A pop-up to shallow center dropped in between a trio of Dodgers, and led to Alex Dickerson’s RBI single.
Although Buehler lost his bid for a shutout, he minimized the damage to just one run. Buehler set a season high with 105 pitches and became the first opposing pitcher to go seven innings against the Giants this season.
Furthermore, Buehler kept his streak alive of logging at least six innings in all nine starts.
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