Dodgers look sloppy but almost pull out victory

A lot didn’t go the Dodgers way on Saturday. However, they still had a chance to win it. Ultimately, they fell to the Giants 5-4, dropping their first game of the season.

The Dodgers jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. Cody Bellinger reached with a single and then came in to score on an RBI double from Justin Turner. It’s the third straight game he’s doubled to begin the year. Per Eric’s research, Turner is the 8th Dodger to double in each of the first three games of the season. Previous two to do it were Matt Kemp (2010) and Raul Mondesi (1995).

Through the remainder of the game, the Dodgers just couldn’t get anything going. It’s not that they weren’t getting on base or getting hits or anything, because they were. Four of their outs came via awful base running. Here are three of the outs the Dodgers got on the base paths. Not included is Austin Barnes getting doubled up on first base to end an inning.

It also doesn’t hurt that Corey Seager got screwed out of three hits. So, right here is two inning’s worth of outs.

The Dodgers put up two runs in the 8th inning and had a chance to tie or take the lead. Kiké Hernandez stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Instead of recapturing his heroic effort from Opening Day, he grounded out to end the inning.

Will Smith led the bottom of the ninth inning off with a home run to trim the deficit to one. Max Muncy, Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger followed, but none could reach base as the Dodgers fell.

On the pitching side, there were some good takeaways and some bad takeaways. Let’s start with the bad.

Alex Wood got the start for the Dodgers. He didn’t look good. He lasted only three innings, allowing three runs on three hits with three walks. His command was all over the place, as he threw 70 pitches in his three innings of work. 30 of those pitches were balls.

Dennis Santana relieved him and didn’t look much better. He allowed two runs to score in the fourth as the Dodgers’ deficit went to four. His second inning of work was much better, throwing a scoreless inning. Overall, Santana allowed two runs in two innings of work to go along with two strikeouts.

The bullpen kept the Dodgers in the game the rest of the way. Joe Kelly came in and struck out two, while throwing 15 consecutive curveballs! Blake Treinen got his first action in a Dodgers uniform and threw a scoreless inning, including a strikeout with some nasty pitches. Jake McGee struck out the side in his lone inning of work and Dylan Floro looked good in his outing.

My takeaway:

The Dodgers looked awful for the most part all day. They couldn’t really get anything going at the plate, they were awful on the bases and the Giants made some incredible plays in the field. However, they still had a chance to win. Can’t win em all.

Game particulars

Home runs: Will Smith (1), Wilmer Flores (1)

WP: Caleb Baragar (1-0) 2 IP, 0 ER, 1 SO

LP: Alex Wood (0-1) 3 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB

SV: Trevor Gott (1) 1 IP, 1 ER

Box score

Up next

The Dodgers will look for the series win tomorrow night. Julio Urias takes the mound for LA. First pitch is at 7:00 p.m. PT on ESPN.