The Los Angeles Dodgers added to their home run total and set a franchise record for must runs scored through the first five games of a season with 44, but it came in a 4-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
For as well as the Dodgers swung the bat throughout the Opening Series, they were kept in check by veteran left-hander Drew Pomeranz. He held them scoreless over four innings, marking the first time this season the Dodgers didn’t score at least three runs within the first three innings.
Their best opportunity came in the second inning when Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger reached on back-to-back singles with one out. Taylor’s line drive went off Pomeranz for his first hit of the season.
Pomeranz stranded both runners by inducing Austin Barnes into a double play. The Dodgers eventually got to him in the bottom of the fifth inning, beginning with Taylor’s solo home run hit halfway up the pavilion in left field. Two batters later, Alex Verdugo delivered the second pinch-hit home run of his career.
As the Dodgers were waiting for their offense to awake from the slumber, Julio Urias tossed shutout work in his first MLB start since May 2017. He retired the first seven batters faced before grazing Joe Panik with a pitch to give the Giants their first baserunner.
Urias lost his no-hitter when Steven Duggar singled with two outs in the third inning, but nothing came of it. Urias later stranded a Brandon Crawford two-out double, and Joe Panik when he doubled in the fifth. Urias finished with seven strikeouts over five shutout innings.
Joe Kelly did nothing to calm the concern after a shaky Dodgers debut, as his first pitch was hit by Brandon Belt for a leadoff home run in the sixth inning. Kelly then allowed a leadoff single in the seventh that was eventually cashed in by Pablo Sandoval on a game-tying RBI single.
Duggar doubled, knocking Kelly out of a second game he squandered a lead in over as many appearances this season. Scott Alexander failed to retire the only batter faced, as Belt gave the Giants a lead with a two-run double.
San Francisco’s four runs matched their total output from a four-game Opening Series with the San Diego Padres.
