For a third time in as many chances, a Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher coming off the disabled list failed to lead to a win. Rich Hill only allowed one run in five innings, but the Dodgers fell to the San Francisco Giants, 2-1. He did not factor into the decision.
Hill wasn’t particularly sharp in the first inning. He hit Denard Span in the helmet with a curveball, then was called for a balk. Span eventually reached third base, though was stranded. Hill needed 20 pitches to get through the inning unscathed.
He was improved in the second, striking out a pair behind an effective curveball. Hill worked around an Eduardo Nuñez two-out single and stolen base to keep the game locked in a scoreless tie.
That changed in the bottom of the fourth when Brandon Belt led off with a home run. The Dodgers’ first hit came on a Justin Turner one-out single in the fourth inning. To that point in the game their lone baserunners against Ty Blach came via two walks in the first inning.
Kiké Hernandez’s double put two runners in scoring position with one out. But an Austin Barnes’ grounder to second base resulted in Turner being thrown out on his attempt to score. Yasiel Puig grounded into a force out to end the threat.
Chris Taylor tied the game in the sixth with leadoff home run in the sixth inning. Franklin Gutierrez followed with a base hit, and two batters later so did Hernandez. But Blach kept the damage at a minimum by retiring Barnes and Puig to end the inning.
Luis Avilan replaced Hill in the bottom of the sixth and promptly allowed a base hit to Belt. A wild pitch allowed him to move into scoring position, and it cost the Dodgers as Crawford hit an RBI single.
Hunter Strickland erased a Taylor lead off single in the eighth by inducing pinch-hitter Corey Seager into a double play. Turner was stranded when a Hernandez line drive was snagged by Belt. Derek Law entered in the ninth inning for a second consecutive game and set the side down in order to earn a save.
The loss was the Dodgers’ third straight, their second such losing streak of the season.
