Kenta Maeda, Joc Pederson each go deep in Dodgers' win over Giants

LOS ANGELES -- Kenta Maeda wandered into uncharted waters on Sunday, but found mostly smooth sailing later on in the Dodgers' 3-1 win over the Giants on Sunday night to capture their weekend series at Dodger Stadium.

Maeda pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in the majors after a pair of six-inning starts, though that hardly seemed feasible after a 24-pitch, two-walk first inning that saw him throw more balls (13) than strikes (11).

He settled down after that, even extending his scoreless streak to start his career to 14 innings. That ended with a solo home run by Joe Panik to right field in the third inning, but Maeda would allow just three singles and an intentional walk the rest of the way.

One of those singles came in the seventh inning with one out, but Maeda turned a bad bunt by Jeff Samardzija into a double play to end the threat. Maeda struck out a career-high seven in his seven innings, and saw his ERA balloon to 0.47.

"He was terrible tonight. He gave up a run," pitching coach Rick Honeycutt joked. "He's not human."

Maeda became just the eighth Dodgers pitcher since 1913 to open his career with a quality start in each of his first three major league games.

Samardzija was putting up zeroes of his own until the fifth, when Yasmani Grandal walked with one out, then two batters later the struggling Joc Pederson took out his frustration on a dead-red fastball for a booming home run to right field that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 advantage.

"As far as the process goes, the way he's going to the cage, where he's at with the hitting coaches, he's in a good place," manager Dave Roberts said of Pederson before the game. "As long as he continues to stay consistent with that, the results will come."

The Dodgers added an insurance run in the seventh by riding the wave of unbridled aggression by Yasiel Puig, who singled to start the inning, then stole second on a throw that beat him but wasn't corralled, and scored from second on an infield single by Grandal just behind second base, again with Puig's looming presence contributing to a strong throw and likely out not getting caught, this time by Buster Posey.

Chris Hatcher pitched a perfect eighth inning, his second scoreless inning since becoming a father earlier in the week, then Kenley Jansen shut the door in the ninth for his fifth save, giving the maligned Dodgers bullpen 14 straight scoreless innings.

And the Dodgers hit the road in first place.

Sunday particulars

Home runs: Joc Pederson (2); Joe Panik (2)

WP - Kenta Maeda (2-0): 7 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP - Jeff Samardzija (1-1): 6 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

Sv - Kenley Jansen (5): 1 IP, 1 hit