The Los Angeles Dodgers offense forgot to show up in the team’s 2018 season-opener against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, as they were defeated 1-0 on a home run by Joe Panik to snap a seven-game win streak on Opening Day.
Much of the same happened on Friday in the second game of the series. Panik took Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen deep in the top of the ninth inning, and the Dodgers offense stayed quiet for the second straight night, resulting in another 1-0 victory.
Alex Wood got the start for the Dodgers and he looked to be on the top of his game, going through the order one full time without allowing a runner to reach base.
His perfect game bid was broken up in the fourth inning, as third baseman Logan Forsythe made an error allowing Austin Jackson to reach base. Wood was able to get out of the inning without any other damage though.
A second Forsythe error allowed a runner to reach base in the fifth, and then Brandon Crawford hit a soft ground ball up the middle that resulted in an infield single, the first hit of the game for either team.
Wood buckled down with two on and two out, getting a groundout to end the inning with a shutout still intact. Forsythe finished with three errors on the night.
The only problem was that Cueto was matching him pitch-for-pitch. He did not allow a runner to reach base through six innings.
That changed in the bottom of the seventh though, as Chris Taylor led off the inning with a single to right-center, ending the perfect game and no-hit bid. Corey Seager followed with a 4-6-3 double play and Puig flew out to end the inning though, so the game remained scoreless through seven innings.
Cueto’s night was done after seven innings, and former Dodger Tony Watson came in to pitch the eighth. The Dodgers were not able to figure him out for the second straight night, resulting in a perfect inning with two strikeouts for Watson.
Wood’s day was done after eight shutout innings, as Kenley Jansen came in to pitch the ninth with the game still scoreless. He gave up the home run to Panik to lead off the inning though, so the Dodgers trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the ninth.
Hunter Strickland came in to close it out for the Giants for the second consecutive night. Strickland struck out Chase Utley and Forsythe and got Joc Pederson to pop up to end the game.
