The anticipation that came with Saturday’s matchup between Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw was tempered a bit as first pitch was delayed due to rain. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants eventually got underway 45 minutes later than the scheduled start time.
Kiké Hernandez led off with a double, which was followed by Bumgarner walking Puig to put two on with no outs in the top of the first. Justin Turner popped-up on the first pitch he saw, and Adrian Gonzalez had a slicing fly ball to left tracked down.
Matt Duffy was unable to come up cleanly with a Scott Van Slyke grounder, which loaded the bases. Trayce Thompson followed with another groundball to Duffy and the third baseman made the play a second time around to end the inning.
After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Angel Pagan went with an outside pitch and lined a one-out single to right field. Kershaw walked Hunter Pence with two outs, much to the southpaw’s dismay, as at least three of his pitches appeared to be within the strike zone.
Duffy grounded out to and the game remained scoreless through the first. Bumgarner retired A.J. Ellis, Charlie Culberson and Kershaw for a 1-2-3 second inning. He then helped himself by crushing a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning.
The home run was the second of Bumgarner’s career off Kershaw. He’s the lone pitcher to have a home run against the Dodgers’ ace. Hernandez improved to 2-for-2 on the day with a leadoff base hit in the third inning.
Turner dropped a flare single into shallow right field, putting runners on first and second with one out. Gonzalez followed with a base hit to left and the Dodgers had the bases loaded a second time.
CONTINUE READING: Scott Van Slyke injured, Dodgers tie game in ninth inning
The Dodgers in a sense cashed in on their opportunity as Van Slyke was hit by a pitch on his left elbow. However, it came at cost as Van Slyke was immediately removed from the game, though due to lower back tightness, and not being hit.
Bumgarner limited the damage by getting back-to-back strikeouts of Thompson and Ellis to end the inning. Buster Posey lined a two-out single to right field in the third, but nothing came of it as Kershaw struck out Pence.
Culberson led off the fourth with a double down the third-base line. He was stranded as Kershaw struck out on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, Hernandez struck out swinging and Puig flied to right.
Kershaw retired Duffy, Brandon Belt and Kelby Tomlinson for a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth. Bumgarner got through the fifth with ease, ending the inning with consecutive strikeouts of Gonzalez and Pederson.
Kershaw gave Bumgarner a steady dose of breaking balls to get him swinging for the first out in the bottom of the fifth. The Dodgers’ ace then had a letter-high fastball hit for a solo home run by Ehire Adrianza.
Bumgarner gave up a leadoff double for a second consecutive inning as Thompson reached to start the sixth. Once again, nothing came of it as Ellis, Culberson and Kershaw were set down in order. Kershaw retired all nine batters faced from the sixth to the eighth inning.
Chase Utley drew a one-out walk in the ninth and Puig followed with a base hit to center field. Santiago Casilla then hit Turner to load the bases with one out. Casilla got the groundball he needed, but Tomlinson didn’t field it cleanly and could only throw out Gonzalez at first base, allowing the tying run to score.
Chris Hatcher gave up a leadoff single to Posey in the bottom of the ninth. The Giants catcher then stole second base on a pitch Pence struck out on. Hatcher struck out Duffy looking and followed that with an intentional walk of Belt.
Joe Panik pinch-hit for Tomlinson and fouled off multiple pitches in lengthy at-bat before going down looking, with Hatcher striking out the side to send the game to extra innings. Seager hit a one-out double in the 10th and scored on Culberson’s go-ahead double.
Kenley Jansen converted the save to give the Dodgers a 3-2 extra-innings win.