Giants 4, Dodgers 3: Short-handed Dodgers come up short, again

The Dodgers continue to dig themselves a hole in 2013, one that could be too big for them to climb out of. They were outclassed by Hunter Pence, Matt Cain and the Giants on Sunday night in a 4-3 loss to complete the weekend sweep at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Trailing 4-0 in the eighth inning, the Dodgers rallied for three runs, including a two-run pinch single by the neck-pain-addled Adrian Gonzalez. But much like the team's roster management over the last week or so, the Dodgers again came up just short.

The Dodgers have lost four straight games and are now 13-17, 5½ games behind the Giants in the National League West. The Dodgers are 5-13 against divisional foes and have lost five of their six series against NL West opponents, including four straight.

The Dodgers had runners on base in five of the first six innings, but were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and were unable to put up a run for the first seven frames.

Pence, however, had himself quite a night, beginning with a ride to the ballpark on his scooter alongside his girlfriend, on her own scooter as shown on the ESPN broadcast. Pence drove home a run with a ground out in the first inning, then doubled home a run in the third. Pence broken open the game in the fifth inning with a two-run double, giving the Giants a 4-0 lead.

That was more than enough for Matt Cain, who pitched into the eighth inning without allowing a run. He ended up allowing one bequeathed run to score, and in two starts against the Dodgers this season Cain has a 0.68 ERA in 13⅓ scoreless frames. Against everybody else, in 28⅔ innings, his ERA is 7.85.

Hyun-jin Ryu allowed those four runs in six innings and took the loss. He was lifted after just 85 pitches on a night he might have been able to go longer to try to help save the bullpen. But that's just one minor gripe on a team with a myriad of problems.

Matt Kemp walked twice and hit a ground rule double, but that was just his seventh extra-base hits in 30 games this season. That's a problem.

Andre Ethier went 1-for-4 with a single, to see his slugging percentage drop to .385. That's a problem.

Mark Ellis missed his eighth consecutive game over a nine-day stretch and still hasn't been placed on the disabled list with a strained right quad.

Luis Cruz went 0-for-3 and is now a devilish 6-for-66 (.091) on the season.

Four of the last six series between the two teams have resulted in sweeps, three of them by San Francisco.

Up next

Chris Capuano will be activated from the disabled list on Monday to start the series opener back home against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Trevor Cahill starts Monday for Arizona.

Sunday's particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Matt Cain (1-2): 7⅓ IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts

LP - Hyun-jin Ryu (3-2): 6 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Sv - Sergio Romo (12): 3 up, 3 down