Story by Robbie Lewis (@SayHeyRob)
4-1-24 RECAP: San Francisco Giants (2-2) vs Los Angeles Dodgers (4-2)
Bob Melvin’s club arrived to Chavez Ravine Monday night off the heels of a 13-4 molly wop job courtesy of the San Diego Padres. Righty Keaton Winn would be making his season debut for the Giants and veteran lefty James Paxton would take the rock for the Dodgers in his team debut. So how would the Giants young righty handle the star studded Dodgers lineup?
The answer was not great out of the gates. In the bottom of the 1st, Mookie Betts led the Dodgers off with a triple off the wall into left field. Jung Hoo Lee went full balls to the wall and smacked hard off the fence, but he’d be okay and stay in the game. That brought up megastar, Shohei Ohtani, and he’d get the job done with an RBI groundout to Thairo Estrada at 2nd base to give the Dodgers the early 1-0 lead.
The Giants would leave five stranded through the first three innings and it would prove to be costly come the bottom of the 3rd. It started harmlessly with a Gavin Lux strikeout, but then Mookie Betts would coax a walk against Winn and that would be followed up with an Ohtani double. That brought up Freddie Freeman in a 2nd & 3rd one out situation and he’d deliver like he usually does with an RBI single up the middle in a two strike count to make it 2-0. The Dodgers weren’t done yet as Will Smith sent an RBI sac fly out to right field to jack the Dodgers lead up to 3-0. Felt like it was getting late early for the Orange and black.
The Giants would have one more chance to do damage against Paxton in the top of the 5th. Nick Ahmed would reach on an infield single and Jung Hoo Lee followed him up with a rope up the middle for another single. This set the table for Austin Slater and he underwhelmed Giants nation by rolling into a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play. Jorge Soler and Matt Chapman would keep the rallies hopes alive by drawing back to back walks to load the bases, but once again the Giants couldn’t convert as Wilmer Flores grounded out weakly to 2nd base to end the threat.
Keaton Winn did his best to keep the Giants close through five innings as he was able to contain the Dodgers monster offense to just the three runs. All in all it was a solid season debut for the young righty.
Of course with zero runners on in the top of the 6th, the Giants were finally able to get the hit they had been looking for all night. It came in the form of Michael Conforto who smacked his third tater of the young season down the right field line to cut the Dodgers lead to 3-1.
Any momentum the Giants gathered from the Conforto dinger lasted about as long as a Kardashian marriage. Erik Miller took the ball for Bob Melvin and immediately got into trouble. He gave up a leadoff single to Freddie Freeman and then walked Will Smith. Miller would record an out on a Max Muncy fielders choice, but that would be all for Miller as Bob Melvin went to Tyler Rogers with Teoscar Hernandez coming to the plate with runners on the corners and just one out. This matchup went sideways for the Giants as Hernandez would launch a mammoth blast deep into the left field seats to bust the game open at 6-1. Not even Mike Tauchman could’ve saved Rogers on that one.
Wilmer Flores nightmare of a night hitting with runners in scoring position somewhat came to an end as he finally was able to drive home a run with a two out single into right field in the top of the 7th. Unfortunately, Jorge Soler was thrown out at 2nd base as he rounded the bag because he didn’t know what the hell he wanted to do. Just one of those nights. Not enough runs and not enough beer. It was a 6-2 Dodgers lead as they headed to the bottom of the 7th.
Nick Avila made his big league debut for the Giants in the bottom of the 7th. Tough gig with Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman waiting for you in said big league debut. Anyways, Mookie Betts smoked a one out double, but Avila would then strikeout Shohei Ohtani for his first big league whiff. That would be the only silver lining for Avila as Freddie Freeman would answer with an RBI double to give the Dodgers a 7-2 lead. The Dodgers weren’t done yet as Will Smith laced an RBI single to worsen the nightmare to 8-2. This game was ass to recap. Just so everyone knows.
Avila would go on to work a scoreless 8th, so good for him in that regard! The Giants would tack on a garbage time run in the top of the 9th on a Jorge Soler RBI sacrifice fly, but that would be it.
8-3 would be the final as the Giants got bullied for the second straight day. Leaving ten runners on base just isn’t a recipe for success against this Dodgers team. Staff ace Logan Webb (0-0, 3.00 ERA) will look to stop the mini two game skid for the Giants tomorrow as he’ll take on a mystery pitcher for the Dodgers. If it’s announced by the time this is posted feel free to tell the world in the comments. First pitch tomorrow night from Chavez Ravine will be at 7:10 PM PT. Pray for better results! And more beer!
WINN (L, 0-1): 5 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K (5.40 ERA)
PAXTON (W, 1-0): 5 IP, 4 H, 5 BB, 5 K (0.00 ERA)
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