D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
If the Dodgers wanted to send Bruce Bochy out with fireworks, job well done.
Bang went one homer. Crack went another. A third thundered off Joc Pederson’s bat in the second inning, and the air show dazzled Johnny Cueto right out of the game.
If the Giants wanted to send Bruce Bochy out with heartache, well, job well done.
Seventeen men left on base (the MLB record is 20). Zero-for-ten with runners in scoring position. A defensive misplay that helped spark a huge Dodgers inning.
Cover your eyes, Giants fans. And your ears, too, with “Let’s go Dodgers!” chants springing out around Oracle Park on Friday in a 9-2 loss to the Dodgers to open Bochy’s final series.
In his fourth start off Tommy John surgery, Cueto had nothing, which will happen and will be exploited when facing Dodgers bats. A lively Oracle Park filled with competing chants, enlivened by Kevin Pillar winning the Willie Mac Award minutes before the start, was quieted in a hurry, the three dingers – courtesy Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and Pederson – putting the Dodgers up 5-0 and ending much drama before it began.
With two games left, the retiring Bochy fell to 1,052-1,052 in his Giants tenure. As much as the Giants want to get looks at youth for next season, Bochy will manage to win his two final games, with a winning record at stake.
If Bochy’s time in San Francisco was marked by capitalizing when given the opportunity – as the three World Series will attest – Friday was marked by tallying up the chances only to waste them. The big hit never came, and not coming through in big moments proved contagious.
The unfortunate turned into embarrassing in the eighth, when Will Smith – the LA catcher, not SF closer – stroked a bases-loaded single. Because of confusion over whether it would be caught, Chris Taylor and Corey Seager were both near third base. Kevin Pillar hesitated and then threw to second instead of home. With no one covering second, Seager scampered home. It started the Dodgers’ second big inning – they only scored in the second and eighth – and quashed any Giants hope.
Cueto lasted just two innings, allowing five runs on five hits and a walk. He was around the plate but missing in the middle, easily his worst of four starts and hiking his ERA from 2.57 to 5.06. He retired the Dodgers in order in the first, only for Los Angeles to start the second homer-homer-walk-triple.
Some more outstanding performances from relievers undergoing early tryouts for next season kept the Giants in the game until the eighth. Wandy Peralta and Sam Selman each faced their fair share of Dodger difficulty and both maneuvered through two scoreless innings. Kyle Barraclough and Andrew Suarez combined for another bagel. Shaun Anderson got roughed up to end the good vibes.
The relief efforts were wasted, as the offense left 12 runners on base just from the fourth through eighth innings.
In the eighth, it was bases loaded for Alex Dickerson, who lazily flew out to right.
The Giants put two on in the seventh for a pinch-hitting Jaylin Davis, who put a nice swing on a liner that died in the leaping glove of Gavin Lux.
The Dodgers gifted the Giants a chance an inning prior, when reliever Yimi Garcia dropped the ball on a scoop that would have gotten Evan Longoria out. But again the Giants could not capitalize, Stephen Vogt flying out to shallow right.
In the fifth, it was runners on the corners with one out, but Dickerson and Brandon Crawford struck out. The fourth ended with Brandon Belt grounding out with two on, the Giants taking turns letting down their outgoing manager.
It’s a good thing the San Francisco pitchers walked a mere three batters; that was the only Bochy pressure point the Giants didn’t press. The orange and black were infested with spots of blue, and the soft cheers for Bochy moments were replaced with disconcertingly loud cheers for Los Angeles, the last step for Bochy beginning with a slip.