Seven members of the Los Angeles Dodgers relief corps combined on a two-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over the host San Francisco Giants to complete a doubleheader sweep Thursday.
Clayton Kershaw dominated the opener of the twin bill, prompted by the teams’ refusal to play Wednesday night, with six four-hit innings in a 7-0 Dodgers triumph.
In the nightcap, Joc Pederson homered, doubled and scored both of Los Angeles’ runs, while left-hander Caleb Ferguson became the first regular reliever to start a game for the Dodgers this season, helping LA create a new winning streak after having a four-game run end in Tuesday’s series opener. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t decide upon his starting pitcher for the nightcap until after Game 1, waiting to see if he had to use Ferguson in relief.
Not needed in Kershaw’s strong effort in the seven-inning opener, Ferguson got the call and didn’t disappoint, needing just 15 pitches – 13 for strikes – to record a 1-2-3 first inning that got the Dodgers rolling.
The start was just the sixth of his career in 89 appearances.
Left-hander Victor Gonzalez (2-0) followed up with 2 1/3 more innings, allowing no hits and striking out three, before righty Brusdar Graterol took a no-hitter into the fifth inning.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers went up 2-0, using Pederson’s homer, his fifth of the season, off Giants starter Kevin Gausman (1-2) to grab a lead in the second inning, before doubling the advantage on Will Smith’s double that scored Pederson in the fourth.
Gausman was pulled two outs into the fifth, charged with both Dodgers runs on three hits.
He walked two and struck out six.
Brandon Belt led off the bottom of the fifth with the Giants’ first hit, a single, and Graterol got one out before handing the ball to lefty Jake McGee, who retired both batters he faced.
Righty Blake Treinen bailed lefty Scott Alexander out of a mess in the sixth by getting consecutive outs with the potential tying runs on the bases,
setting the stage for closer Kenley Jansen, who pitched around a Belt leadoff single and two-out walk in the seventh to record his eighth save, striking out three.
Pederson finished 2-for-2 for the Dodgers, who totalled only three hits in wrapping up a 6-4 season-series win over their rivals. The Giants’ consecutive losses came on the heels of a seven-game winning streak.
Meanwhile Wade Miley allowed one hit over four strong innings, while Nick Castellanos and Jesse Winker provided more offensive help as the visiting Cincinnati Reds completed a doubleheader sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers with a 6-0 win in Thursday’s nightcap.
After snapping its four-game slide with a 6-1 victory in Game 1 of this twin bill, Cincinnati scored twice in the second, two times in the fifth and twice more in the seventh to complete a 4-6 road trip.
It was the first doubleheader at Milwaukee’s Miller Park after both clubs mutually agreed to boycott Wednesday’s contest in the wake of the unrest and violence following Sunday’s police shooting of black 29-year-old Jacob Blake in nearby Kenosha, Wis. Miley, who pitched for the Brewers in 2018, allowed Milwaukee’s only hit to Luis Urias and struck out three over four of the seven-inning game.
Castellanos and Winker, who went a combined 6-for-6 with three homers and five RBIs in the first game, each had an RBI double in Game 2. Righty Lucas Sims (2-0) pitched two hitless innings of relief to get the win.
from Gulf Times https://ift.tt/32GmY5Q
Comments
Post a Comment