Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates his home run in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium on June 28, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Early blasts by Mookie Betts and Max Muncy helped propel the Los Angeles Dodgers to a key win in the first of a two-game set against the San Francisco Giants.
Betts and Muncy hit back-to-back home runs to begin the bottom of the first inning, leading Trevor Bauer and the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory in a matchup of teams with the two best records in the majors.
“We did a good job of not adding any extra pressure (to this game),” said Betts, who has 10 home runs this season. “We haven’t got hot yet, but we’ve done a good job of staying steady.”
All of the runs at Dodger Stadium came on solo shots. Will Smith also went deep for Los Angeles, which has won four straight since being no hit by the Chicago Cubs last Thursday.
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The homers ended up being enough for the Dodgers, who had only two hits that didn't leave the yard and got a runner into scoring position just once.
“Mookie and Max got us off to a nice start. It is nice to play with a lead,” manager Dave Roberts said.
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LaMonte Wade Jr. and Brandon Crawford homered for the Giants, who saw their NL West lead over Los Angeles shrink to 2 1/2 games. San Francisco outhit the Dodgers 11-5, but left 11 runners on base and was 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
Bauer (8-5) allowed two runs on eight hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. Kenley Jansen worked the ninth for his 19th save.
“Everyone made big pitches in critical situations,” said Bauer, who has gone at least six innings in all but one of his 17 starts this season. “Everyone did a good job of working out of trouble. It’s about being able to work out of jams and execute enough pitches to keep them off the board.”
Anthony DeSclafani (8-3) saw his woes against the Dodgers continue and his four-start winning streak snapped. The right-hander yielded three runs on five hits with six strikeouts over five innings in his third start against Los Angeles this season.
DeSclafani has surrendered 15 runs in 12 1/3 innings and has a 10.95 ERA against the Dodgers this year. A big reason for the inflated ERA is the 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings on his ledger from an 11-5 loss on May 23.
DeSclafani has a 1.68 ERA in his other 13 starts, with 15 earned runs allowed in 80 1/3 innings.
“It (stinks) giving up three home runs and at the end of the day it is giving up three runs. I felt like I kept the team in the game and we were in it until the last inning,” DiScalfani said. “We had a lot of runners on base. We just weren’t able to cash in on those.”
Betts’ homer to left-center on the third pitch was his 10th of the season. It was the first homer allowed by DeSclafani in four starts.
When Muncy followed with his 16th on a sinker with a 1-2 count, it marked the first time DeSclafani gave up a pair of homers in a game this season.
The previous time the Dodgers hit consecutive homers to start a game was on July 3, 2018.
Wade, recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Friday, got the Giants within 2-1 when he led off the third inning with his homer. Smith ended an eight at-bat hitless streak one inning later with a drive to left-center to put the Dodgers up 3-1.
Crawford made it 3-2 in the sixth with a 444-foot shot over the wall in center, his longest-measured homer since Statcast started in 2015. The Giants shortstop is tied with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for most home runs on the road since May 1 with nine.
San Francisco’s best chance to tie came in the eighth inning. It had runners on second and third with one out, but Blake Treinen struck out pinch-hitter Curt Casali and got Wade on a popup.
Mike Tauchman led off the ninth with a single and tried to advance when center fielder Cody Bellinger bobbled the ball, but was thrown out at second. Jansen fanned Buster Posey and got Alex Dickerson to ground out to end it.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler challenged the call, but it was upheld.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: RF Mike Yastrzemski suffered a right leg contusion after taking a foul ball off his leg during a seventh inning at-bat. He is day-to-day. ... 1B Brandon Belt has “minimal structure damage” to his right knee but will seek another opinion on how to progress with the injury. Kapler said the team is feeling more optimistic he can rehab and avoid season-ending surgery. Belt was injured in last Wednesday's win over the Los Angeles Angels. ... RHP Logan Webb (right shoulder strain) is scheduled to pitch two innings in a rehab assignment on Thursday but it remains to be determined if that will be with Triple-A Sacramento or Double-A San Jose.
Dodgers: RHP Scott Alexander (left shoulder inflammation) is continuing his rehab assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City and could rejoin the team during the weekend. Alexander will be eligible to be activated off the 60-day injured list on Friday.
UP NEXT
San Francisco RHP Kevin Gausman (8-1, 1.49 ERA), who has the second-lowest ERA in the NL, tossed six shutout innings in his last start against the Dodgers on May 30. He will be opposed by Los Angeles RHP Walker Buehler (7-1, 2.51), who has pitched twice against the Giants this year, going 1-0 with two earned runs allowed in 13 innings.
