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Matt Moore put to bed any ideas of a Dodgers sweep on Thursday night, coming within one out of a no-hitter to lead the Giants to a 4-0 win in the series finale at Dodger Stadium, pulling to within two games in the National League West.
After making one run hold up in their win on Wednesday night, the Dodgers had a heat check on Thursday, trying their best to win with zero runs. But the pesky Giants wouldn’t oblige.
Yasmani Grandal walked in the second inning, the 18th walk by Moore in his first 25 innings with the Giants. But that was pretty much it for the Dodgers, as Moore retired the next 14 straight before a walk to Corey Seager in the seventh.
Moore walked Grandal again in the eighth, but then retired the next five batters to come within one out of history. But Seager blooped a single into right field, ending Moore’s night at 133 pitches, an MLB season high, and one hit allowed.
Santiago Casilla relieved Moore, retiring Justin Turner on just one pitch to finish off the win for the Giants.
Ross Stripling stranded doubles in the second and fifth innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth. A single by Brandon Crawford opened the inning, then a potential double play ball back to the box was dropped by Stripling, who recovered to only get one out at first base.
Brandon Belt, hitting .209/.348/.357 since the All-Star break entering Thursday and dropped to seventh in the batting order, his lowest spot against a right-handed pitcher all year, followed with an RBI single to give the Giants their first lead of the series, 1-0.
Joe Panik then hammered a changeup into the right field pavilion to widen San Francisco’s advantage to 3-0.
The Giants added a gift run against Grant Dayton in the sixth, taking advantage of a rare miscue by Justin Turner at third, a bobble of a soft liner by Moore to extend the inning.
Up next
After making it through one gauntlet, the Dodgers conclude their homestand with a weekend series against the surging Cubs, winners of 22 of their last 27 games. Bud Norris starts the opener on Friday night for the Dodgers, a 7:10 p.m. PT start. Left-hander Mike Montgomery gets the call for Chicago.
Thursday particulars
Home run: Joe Panik (8)
WP - Matt Moore (8-10): 8⅔ IP, 1 hit, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
LP - Ross Stripling (4-4): 5 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts