Offense scores 16 hits and wins series against Dodgers – NBC Sports Bay Area & California
RESULT
SAN FRANCISCO – Matt Chapman scored 11 points, making him the best player on his teamth He led the Giants’ batting parade as they crushed the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 at Oracle Park on Sunday, earning their first series win against the NL West leaders in two years.
Spencer Bivens delivered five strong innings as the opener, giving San Francisco’s tired bullpen a much-needed rest. Bivens (2-1) gave up four hits and allowed one run with three strikeouts.
The resurgent Giants, who have won five of seven games after five straight losses, did most of their damage to Dodgers starter James Paxton.
Paxton was undefeated in three previous games against San Francisco and had a 7-1 overall record through Sunday before being ejected after four innings. The Dodgers left-hander allowed nine runs, which is the most Paxton has allowed in a game in his career.
The Giants (41-44) are still ten games behind the division-leading Dodgers.
Unlike the first two games of the series, which were decided late, this game was over early.
San Francisco scored in each of the first four innings and took a 9-0 lead before the Dodgers scored their first run in the fifth inning on a home run by Chris Taylor.
It was the perfect recipe for the Giants on a day when they didn’t have all of their relievers available.
Bivens set the tone early in his first major league start.
Bivens retired the first seven batters he faced in order before Enrique Hernandes’ one-out single followed in the third inning. Bivens then struck out the next two Dodger batters, including Shohei Ohtani, who missed on a 95 mph fastball.
To close out the fifth inning, Bivens struck Ohtani again, getting the Japanese slugger to strike out with an 82 mph sweeper.
Here are the takeaways from Sunday’s game:
Attack, and lots of it
It was a beautiful Sunday in the court and the Giants’ bats were just as beautiful.
Every starter in the lineup had at least one hit. Four Giants (Jorge Soler, Heliot Ramos, David Villar, Tyler Fitzgerald) had multiple hits in the game. Ramos tied Chapman with three RBIs, while four others scored a run and struck out seven.
Most of the hits were direct hits. San Francisco had 10 doubles – a San Francisco franchise-era record – and one home run. The 11 extra-base hits are the most by the Giants this season.
Bullpen help is coming
After returning from rehab, Landen Roupp took over some of the cleanup duties for San Francisco after being called up to the team from Triple-A Sacramento before the game.
It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but the Giants needed someone to hold onto some innings, and Roupp was that man.
Roupp pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and three runs, with three strikeouts and two walks, before being replaced by Tyler Rogers in the ninth inning with two outs and two on.
In a corresponding move to Roupp’s call-up, Spencer Howard was designated for assignment. Howard has thrown 134 pitches in 7 2/3 innings in his last two appearances, including 54 on Saturday.
This left the Giants’ already thin bullpen lacking capable pitchers, and Howard had to go because he had no other choice.
It wasn’t an easy decision either.
“Obviously, as an organization, we didn’t want to have to do that, but today is a pretty extreme day considering what we’re dealing with,” manager Bob Melvin said before the game. “He couldn’t have pitched today, and unfortunately, this is a byproduct of that.”
Basepath error
A day after missing numerous scoring opportunities, the Giants continued to stumble across the bases.
This time it was Nick Ahmed who got into trouble. Ahmed hit a single in the second inning and then ran to second base when Tyler Fitzgerald hit a single to right. But Ahmed took a few steps toward third base after reaching second base and was ejected 9-3-6 while trying to run back to base.
That proved crucial, as the next batter, Soler, hit an RBI double to center. Ahmed would almost certainly have scored on that play had he still been on base.
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