LOS ANGELES — Andy Pages’ big swing decided a game and a series. Buster Posey’s big swing could decide a division.
Pages’ three-run home run with two outs in the fifth inning lifted the Dodgers to a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants Sunday afternoon.
The win gave the Dodgers back-to-back series wins against their two closest pursuers in the National League West. They took two out of three from the Padres in San Diego and the Giants in LA this weekend, building a two-game lead over the Giants, three over the Padres, who come to Dodger Stadium for a four-game series starting Monday.
But the Giants leave town a much bigger threat than when they arrived. Just minutes before Sunday’s game, Posey (less than nine months into his tenure as the Giants’ president of baseball operations) swung a blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox that adds Rafael Devers to a lineup that ranked in the bottom third in MLB in nearly every offensive statistic.
Devers brings much-needed left-hander power to that lineup – whatever position he ends up playing in his new home. He has hit 14 home runs this season, the same number the Giants have gotten from every left-handed hitter that has taken an at-bat for them this season (the fewest in the National League).
“Good for Buster. He’s going for it,” Dodgers veteran Clayton Kershaw said during an in-game interview with ESPN Sunday night. “It makes them better, for sure.”
The deal went down so close to game time that the Giants’ scheduled starter, Kyle Harrison, was already in the visitors’ bullpen at Dodger Stadium, warming up for the game when he learned he wasn’t starting, he was departing. Harrison was part of the package sent to Boston in exchange for Devers. He will go from Dodger Stadium to Worcester – home to the Red Sox’s Triple-A team.
Reliever Sean Hjelle got the last-minute assignment to fill in for Harrison and gave up single runs in each of the first two innings – one on a solo home run by Tommy Edman.
Dustin May gave that lead away in the fourth inning.
A lack of command has characterized May’s return from elbow surgery this season. He escaped damage after walking two and loading the bases in the second inning, then hit a batter in the third.
The fourth started off well enough. He retired the first two batters. But then he gave up a single to Mike Yastrzemski and hit another batter. No. 9 hitter Christian Koss drove in a run with a single and leadoff man Jung Hoo Lee lashed a triple down the first-base line, driving in two to give the Giants a lead.
The Dodgers got it back in the fifth. Shohei Ohtani led off with one of his three singles in the game. Mookie Betts followed with another single, but the rally seemed to be dying as Freddie Freeman grounded out and Teoscar Hernandez struck out.
But Pages got a hanging slider from Giants reliever Ryan Walker and sent it 399 feet into the left-field pavilion.
That lead held up despite Kirby Yates giving up a solo home run to Daniel Johnson in the eighth inning (after what should have been a called strike three). Tanner Scott struck out the side to close it out in the ninth for his 13th save.
Related Articles
Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki stops throwing program indefinitely Shohei Ohtani homers twice, Clayton Kershaw tosses gem as Dodgers rout Giants Emmet Sheehan close to return as Dodgers eye Padres series Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggles as Giants beat Dodgers for tie atop NL West Encouraging news for Dodgers’ injury-plagued pitching staff Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Dodgers win series as Giants swing blockbuster trade for Rafael Devers )
Also on site :
- Final Palisades fire evacuation order lifted
- 'Unprecedented' number of US Air Force aerial refueling tankers heading toward Europe
- Chart-Topping 70's Rock Band Honors Fallen Members During Farewell Show