Extra effort earns Dodgers split with Giants

Another game in San Francisco, another close affair with runs at a premium. But on Thursday afternoon, the Dodgers broke things open in the 10th to earn a series split with a 5-1 win over the Giants at AT&T Park.

Two walks and a cue ball single by Chase Utley up the third base line loaded the bases with nobody out in the the 10th inning against Steven Okert, then the merry-go-round started.

A single to center by Andrew Toles brought home the go-ahead run. Utley somehow didn’t score from second on that single, but did score from third on a shallow foul pop near the visiting bullpen caught by first baseman Buster Posey.

After an intentional walk to Corey Seager, Justin Turner extended his hitting streak to 13 games with another RBI single, then with two outs Chris Taylor walked for the fourth run of the inning.

The Dodgers scored six total runs in the first 37 innings of this series before their four-run 10th.

Oh yeah, and the man who suffered the loss in Wednesday night’s game — Ross Stripling — scored the go-ahead run as a pinch runner on Thursday. Baseball.

Fireman

In a departure from the norm, Kenley Jansen was brought in to start the ninth inning of a tie game on the road. The vast majority of the time, throughout baseball, most managers will save their closer for a future lead, that may never come.

This is just the second time in Jansen’s career that he entered a game to start the ninth inning on the road in a tie game during the regular season, and the other time (Apr. 18, 2012) was when Jansen was a setup man to closer Javy Guerra.

Jansen allowed a two-out single to Kelby Tomlinson, but also struck out three batters in the ninth inning. Jansen didn’t get a save, but he did get the win.

For starters

Julio Urias was sharp in his 2017 debut, and took a shutout into the sixth inning. But after a one-out walk to Brandon Belt, an errant pickoff throw allowed Belt to advance to third, putting the tying run just 90 feet away.

Urias recovered to strike out Eduardo Nunez, but after intentionally walking Buster Posey, Christian Arroyo lined a single up the middle to cash in the Dodgers’ mistake. Urias got his glove on the ball, but that didn’t prevent the ball to get into the outfield.

That ended Urias’ day at 5⅔ innings, one out short of matching his longest start as a professional (done 12 times). He struck out four and walked four. He allowed four hits too, but was aided by a pair of double plays.

Birthday boy Seager homered in the first inning to give the Dodgers an early lead, but that’s all they would score against Matt Moore, who threw seven innings. He allowed just two hits and three walks while striking out eight.

One of the Dodgers’ two hits against Moore was a single by Taylor, who advanced to third base with one out in the seventh inning, but a pair of strikeouts by Scott Van Slyke and Cody Bellinger killed the threat.

Up next

The Dodgers fly home Thursday night, and open a homestand on Friday night against the Phillies with Kenta Maeda starting the opener. Jerad Eickhoff starts for Philadelphia.

Thursday particulars

Home run: Corey Seager (5)

WP - Kenley Jansen (1-0): 1 IP, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts

LP - Steven Okert (0-1): 0 IP, 2 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk