Dodgers find runs at a premium in loss to Giants

Pablo Sandoval singled home Joaquin Arias in the seventh inning to give the Giants a 2-1 victory over the Dodgers in another low scoring affair on Wednesday at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

But  after scoring just three runs in the first two games of the series, the most frustrating part of the series for the Dodgers was losing Hanley Ramirez after the shortstop was hit by a pitch on the left hand in the seventh inning. X-rays were negative, but how long he might be out is still unknown.

After going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday, the Dodgers' solution on Wednesday was to not put hardly any runners in scoring position at all. Nobody reached as far as second base until the sixth inning, and the biggest threat came in the seventh, after Ramirez was hit by pitch the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out.

Los Angeles was 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position, but the one hit, by Andre Ethier in the seventh, loaded the bases and couldn't score a run. Juan Uribe followed with an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.

Dee Gordon, who had three hits on the night, advanced to second base in the eighth, setting up an opportunity for Carl Crawford with two outs. But when southpaw Javier Lopez was brought in to pitch, Mattingly stuck with Crawford rather than go to the right-handed Scott Van Slyke.

Crawford grounded out, ending the inning.

Despite the poor offensive showing, the Dodgers remained in the game thanks to Paul Maholm.

The five Giants batters who faced Maholm the most occupied the first five spots in San Francisco's lineup on Wednesday, but Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Mike Morse - hitting a combined combined .317/.367/.554 against Maholm - were just 3-for-13 with two walks against the southpaw.

Maholm allowed an RBI single to Posey in the third inning, but that was it in six innings. The left-hander allowed a run on five hits and three walks, and struck out two.

The Dodgers weren't getting much of anything against Ryan Vogelsong, until Maholm himself walked with two outs in the sixth. He then scored on a triple by Gordon, who is batting .404/.453/.553 on the season.

The Dodgers' streak of consecutive games with a home run ended at seven.

Up next

The Dodgers try to salvage a game in the series on Thursday afternoon getaway day with Hyun-Jin Ryu and his 19 scoreless road innings getting the start. Madison Bumgarner starts for San Francisco.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Jean Machi (3-0): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

LP - J.P. Howell (1-1): ⅔ IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 walks, 1 strikeout

Sv - Sergio Romo (4): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts