Call it a hangover from clinching a fifth consecutive National League West title, or a byproduct of facing a talented starter in Madison Bumgarner, the Los Angeles Dodgers were quiet for much of the night Saturday in a 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
It is worth noting the Dodgers did not have Cody Bellinger or Justin Turner in their lineup. Bellinger received a night off with a left-hander on the mound, while Turner is still under the weather and nursing a sore right hand from being hit last Thursday.
In what may have been his final start of the regular season, Hyun-Jin Ryu only managed to pitch 2.1 innings due to taking a line drive off his left arm. X-rays came back negative and Ryu was diagnosed with a forearm contusion.
Prior to the early exit, Ryu allowed a run on Buster Posey’s two-out base hit in the first inning. Ross Stripling finished out the third, then was pinch-hit for by O’Koyea Dickson in the bottom half of the inning.
Dickson singled off Bumgarner for his first career MLB hit, but was stranded by Chris Taylor. That started a string of 11 consecutive batters retired by Bumgarner, which was snapped by Kiké Hernandez’s double in seventh inning.
Bumgarner’s streak of 15 scoreless innings pitched against the Dodgers ended in the eighth when Austin Barnes led off with a line-drive home run. After Charlie Culberson doubled, Cody Bellinger pinch-hit for Walker Buehler and flied out to deep right field.
Hunter Strickland took over for Bellinger and nearly surrendered a go-ahead home run to Taylor, but his drive was instead caught in deep right field. Yasiel Puig was caught stealing to end the game, and to make matters worse, limped off the field.
Brandon McCarthy went three innings and allowed one run in his first relief appearance of the season. The result was much better than his first time pitching out of the bullpen last season, when the Giants scored six runs and McCarthy failed to retire any of the six batters faced.
Buehler entered in the eighth inning and promptly faced a bases-loaded jam with no outs. He escaped the trouble behind a strikeout and double play to keep the Dodgers in the game. Buehler remains a candidate to potentially make the club’s playoff roster.
Tony Cingrani tossed a scoreless ninth, marking a fifth consecutive appearance in which he has not allowed a run.
