SAN FRANCISCO – After using all eight of their relievers in Saturday’s extra-innings game (and half of them the night before as well), the Dodgers needed James Paxton to be good Sunday.
He was not.
The Dodgers starter was hammered for four innings by the San Francisco Giants, sticking around that long only to save the bullpen from another long day. The Giants scored in each of Paxton’s four innings including five times in the fourth, on their way to a 10-4 victory over the Dodgers Sunday.
The Dodgers came into the series having won 14 of their previous 18 games at Oracle Park but lost two out of three over the weekend.
“It never feels good losing a series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But, we got behind the 8-ball early.”
Paxton put them there. The veteran left-hander was coming off three of his better starts in a row. He allowed a total of two runs on seven hits over 18 innings against the Rangers, Rockies and White Sox.
The Giants matched that by the second inning Sunday.
The first three batters reached base against Paxton and the only thing that stopped the Giants from loading the bases with no outs in each of the first two innings was bad baserunning by Nick Ahmed.
Six of the first 10 Giants had hits off Paxton and nine of the first 16. The Giants landed the knockout blow with five runs in the fourth inning on doubles by Heliot Ramos and Patrick Bailey and a two-run home run by Matt Chapman.
“They were just on the fastball today. We tried to go to some other things but they were just all over it,” Paxton said.
“They were definitely hunting fastball. Every time we went to it, they weren’t missing it. I feel like I was leaving the ball over the plate a little bit too much for them, but you know, they were swinging the bat well today.”
By the time Paxton had staggered through four innings, he had given up 12 hits (including six doubles and Chapman’s homer). Ten of the 12 hits had exit velocities of 100 mph or higher.
“You’re not going to pitch well every game. You’re going to have games like today and I’ll keep working and be ready to come out next time,” he said. “Today just wasn’t a good one. Get ready for the next one and get back at it.”
If the Dodgers’ bullpen was taxed this weekend, that is the default setting for the Giants’ relievers recently with the team basically down to two healthy starting pitchers (Logan Webb who started Friday and converted reliever Jordan Hicks).
After stretching their bullpen game over 11 innings Saturday, the Giants turned to 30-year-old rookie Spencer Bivens Sunday. It was the first big-league start (and sixth big-league game) for Bivens who made just four starts in three minor-league seasons and pitched in independent leagues in the U.S. and France before signing with the Giants.
He gave the Giants everything they could have hoped for, holding the Dodgers to one run on four hits through five innings. Bivens struck out Ohtani twice including to end the fifth inning and punctuated it with an emphatic fist pump and spin on the mound.
Chris Taylor provided what little offense the Dodgers mustered in response. He went 2 for 3 with a solo home run and an RBI double. Taylor has nine hits in his past 25 at-bats (.360) after carrying an .095 batting average into the first week of June.
“I feel like my mechanics are in a spot where I can have the approach that I’ve wanted to have for the past couple years,” Taylor said. “I’ve always thought about hitting the ball to right-center. That kind of puts me on everything. Before the last couple weeks when I was thinking that, I was underneath and missing. Now I’m in a spot where I feel I can go back to that approach and feel like myself.
“It’s been a process. For me, it’s been more about the quality of the at-bats and moving the ball forward. That’s been encouraging – not just today but the last few weeks.”
Austin Barnes drove in two runs with a two-out double in the ninth.
The Giants finished their scoring with back-to-back doubles from Ramos and Bailey in the eighth inning. The 10 doubles by the Giants are the most the Dodgers have given up in a game since moving to Los Angeles.
“Extremely frustrating, not just for the bullpen but frustrated I couldn’t get Pax through that,” Barnes said. “Obviously he’s been throwing the ball pretty well. Giving up a nine spot, it hurts. It hurts for a lot of us — Pax, the bullpen. Didn’t give us a chance to win today really. Just behind the eight ball. Any time you don’t get your pitcher through five, six, giving up nine — it was pretty (bad).”
