Dodgers rally to beat wild Jake Peavy, sweep Giants

The Dodgers rallied for three runs in the fifth inning and held on for a 4-3 win over the Giants to finish off a three-game sweep a AT&T Park in San Francisco. With the sweep the Dodgers managed a winning (5-4) road trip and return home in first place by 1½ games over the Giants in the National League West.

Hyun-jin Ryu pitched his team-leading 15th quality start on Sunday and struck out seven in six innings, becoming the third Dodgers pitcher in the last three days to win his 12th game.

Don Mattingly set his post All-Star break rotation with this weekend series in San Francisco in mind, and it paid off. The Dodgers allowed four runs in the three games in their first road sweep of the Giants since July 27-29, 2012.

Both teams cashed in misplays for their first run. Hanley Ramirez could make a play on a two-out chopper behind the mound in the third inning, allowing Hunter Pence to reach base and Dan Uggla to score for a 1-0 Giants lead.

In the top of the fourth the Dodgers answered back, with Ramirez reaching on an error by Uggla, then scoring two singles later.

The Giants took a 2-1 lead but after scoring five runs in the fifth inning on Friday and another run in the fifth on Saturday, the Dodgers did some more work in the fifth inning again on Sunday, much of it through unconventional means.

With one out, Dee Gordon struck out swinging but reached on a wild pitch, then a walk to Yasiel Puig and another wild pitch put runners on second and third base. Jake Peavy struck out Adrian Gonzalez, but yet another ball got away from Buster Posey, forcing a throw to first base to retire Gonzalez. On the throw, an alert Gordon raced home to tie the game at 2-2. An RBI single by Ramirez scored Puig, then a triple by Carl Crawford scored Ramirez for a 4-2 Dodgers advantage.

Posey homered on a 3-0 pitch by Ryu in the fifth to pull San Francisco within a run in the fifth inning, but Ryu was able to hold them off the rest of the way through six innings.

The game was then turned over to the winners bracket of the Dodgers bullpen, none of whom had pitched since Monday. With a full five days of rest, J.P. Howell pitched a scoreless seventh, Brian Wilson pitched a scoreless eighth, and Kenley Jansen shut the door in the ninth for his 30th save.

Jansen is the sixth different Dodgers pitcher to save 30 games in a season, and the first since Jonathan Broxton in 2009.

Up next

The Dodgers return home Sunday night and are off Monday before opening up a three-game series against the Braves on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Josh Beckett gets the call in the series opener, facing old friend Aaron Harang for Atlanta.

Sunday particulars

Home run: Buster Posey (12)

WP - Hyun-jin Ryu (12-5): 6 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts

LP - Jake Peavy (1-10): 6 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned runs), 2 walks, 5 strikeouts

Sv - Kenley Jansen (30): 1 IP, 3 strikeouts