LOS ANGELES — Baby steps.
The offense is still not firing on all cylinders and their defense – one player, in particular – was costly. But the Dodgers did enough things right to beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2, on Thursday night, splitting their four-game series by winning back-to-back games for the first time in a week.
Emmet Sheehan was cruising along in the fifth inning, having allowed just one hit – a bloop single – in the first four. With a runner on and two outs, Jung Hoo Lee sliced a soft line drive just inside the left-field line.
Teoscar Hernandez did not play it aggressively, acting as if he expected it to bounce into the stands for a ground-rule double. It did not. It bounced past Hernandez and rolled toward the left-field corner. Lee circled the bases as Hernandez ran it down. The relay throw beat Lee home but went over catcher Dalton Rushing’s head for a two-run inside-the-park home run that tied the score.
It was the first inside-the-park home run at Dodger Stadium since Nick Ahmed did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 9, 2018, the first ever by a Giant at Dodger Stadium and the first by a Giants player against the Dodgers since Larry Herndon did it against Fernando Valenzuela in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 1981.
The Dodgers (26-18) had failed to build a bigger lead than that 2-0 advantage because their offense remains stuck in neutral too often.
Batting leadoff and playing DH in place of Shohei Ohtani, who was given the day off, Will Smith led off the game with a home run. In the second inning, Max Muncy drew a walk and worked his way around on the first of two doubles by Hernandez and an RBI single by Hyeseong Kim.
But Hernandez was trapped off third when Miguel Rojas tapped a grounder back to the mound and the potential for a multi-run inning disappeared.
Hernandez’s second double of the game (and one of his nine hits in his past 20 at-bats) came with one out in the fourth and went for naught when Rushing and Kim struck out. The Dodgers stranded another runner at third base in the fifth inning.
In the sixth inning, though, they were able to cash in.
After a leadoff walk to Andy Pages, Hernandez’s third hit of the game put runners at second and third with one out. Rushing struck out for the second out, but Alex Call came off the bench to pinch-hit for Kim and dumped a two-run single into right field.
Rojas ended a 10-pitch at-bat with an RBI single to make it a three-run inning – the Dodgers’ biggest inning during the seven-game homestand that ended Thursday.
Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott protected the three-run lead with a hitless inning each.
More to come on this story.