The Los Angeles Dodgers were without a hit through three innings before Matt Beaty broke the seal in a 5-0 win over the San Francisco Giants to prevent a series sweep at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers additionally lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to two.
Julio Urias fell short of reaching the targeted three innings in what was his second consecutive start, but he managed to navigate through trouble to keep the game scoreless.
His effort was matched early by Dereck Rodríguez, who didn’t allow a baserunner until walking Gavin Lux to lead off the third inning. Rodríguez stranded Lux but didn’t couldn’t do so after walking Cody Bellinger with two outs in the fourth.
Beaty turned on a changeup to break up the scoreless tie with his ninth home run of the season. Should he club one more over the next few weeks, Beaty will become the 12th Dodgers player to reach double-digits in homers this year.
They set a franchise record last season with 10, and have already broken that with what’s also an NL record 11 players.
A single and error led to a three-run home run from Corey Seager in the fifth to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0. The homer was just his second since hitting one in three straight games from Aug. 13-15.
While Urias only went two innings, Kenta Maeda provided length as he got through four frames with just one hit allowed and six strikeouts. That was followed by a scoreless inning from Casey Sadler, Yimi Garcia and Adam Kolarek handling the eighth, and Josh Sborz completed the shut out.
It was another encouraging effort for the Dodgers bullpen, and they managed to avoid needing Joe Kelly who is nursing his way through what manager Dave Roberts deemed a minor leg injury.
