Dodgers find no relief in loss to Giants

A walk-off sacrifice fly from Hunter Pence scored Gorkys Hernandez in the 10th inning to complete a comeback for the Giants in a 4-3 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

San Francisco rallied against Ross Stripling in his second inning of work, starting the 10th with a single and a walk. A sacrifice bunt by Nick Hundley loaded the bases with nobody out when Adrian Gonzalez’s throw to third base was late in his attempt to get the lead runner.

That set up Pence, who fouled off five different high fastballs from Stripling in a 10-pitch battle, the final one driven deep enough to left field, where Cody Bellinger didn’t have much chance at throwing out Hernandez at the plate.

It was the first extra-inning game of the season for the Dodgers, who fell to 1-5 in one-run contests in 2017.

The Dodgers held a 3-0 lead through six innings thanks to a superb outing from Alex Wood, and the Dodgers used exactly the lifelines they wanted in the so-called bridge to Kenley Jansen.

But the Giants rallied with a two-run home run by rookie Christian Arroyo — in his third major league game — against Sergio Romo in the seventh inning, then saw Michael Morse tie the game with a pinch-hit home run against Pedro Baez in the eighth.

For Morse, who was just called up on Wednesday from Triple-A Sacramento, it was his first at-bat of the season. It was his fourth career pinch-hit home run, including the playoffs.

No no-no, no decision

Wood took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, retiring 15 of his first 16 batters faced in his finest outing of the season.

The left-hander allowed a leadoff single to Drew Stubbs in the sixth inning, but Wood allowed nothing else, needing just 77 pitches in his six scoreless frames. He struck out five, and also wore out the infield grass, inducing nine ground ball outs.

Wood was just fine the second time through the order on Wednesday, limiting the Giants to 1-for-8 with a single and a walk. He also retired the two batters he faced the third time through as well.

But it was his first time through the order where Wood showed his dominance, retiring all nine batters, with five strikeouts. On the season, opposing batters the first time facing Wood are just 2-for-26 (.077) with 11 strikeouts and a walk, though one of the hits was a home run.

All other batters against Wood this season, after that first time through the order, are 9-for-28 (.321) with three doubles, six walks, and four strikeouts.

These are small samples, obviously, and Wood has enough of a starting track record to justify sticking in the rotation. But next week, when the current six-man rotation becomes five, you can at least see why the Dodgers wouldn’t mind having Wood as a weapon in the bullpen if they have to.

Rally time

Corey Seager got the Dodgers’ rally started with a solo shot to center field leading off the sixth against Johnny Cueto, a 462-foot drive that was the longest home run by a Dodger this season.

The inning also saw a single by Justin Turner, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games, and a double by Yasmani Grandal.

Chase Utley brought home one run with a bloop single that snapped an 0-for-28 skid, then Andrew Toles beat out a potential double play ball at first base to extend the inning and drive home another.

But the 3-0 lead wouldn’t hold.

Staff infectious

Wood’s outing was the latest in a string of strong outings from the Dodgers’ rotation, the first time they have had four consecutive starts of six or more innings since Apr. 26-29, 2016, when Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda and Wood turned the trick.

Dodgers starting pitchers have walked exactly one batter in each of the last eight games, with 52 strikeouts in 48⅔ innings to go with those eight walks.

Up next

Julio Urias makes his 2017 debut in Thursday afternoon’s finale, a 12:45 p.m. PT start, the fourth straight left-handed starting pitcher for the Dodgers. Another southpaw starts for the Giants, with Matt Moore on the mound in the series finale.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: Corey Seager (4); Christian Arroyo (1), Mike Morse (1)

WP - Derek Law (2-0): 1 IP, 1 hit

LP - Ross Stripling (0-2): 1⅓ IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk