© Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — On Opening day, all the San Francisco Giants needed to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers was a home run from Joe Panik.
As it turned out, that’s all they needed the following game as Panik hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning off Kenley Jansen to deliver the Giants another 1-0 victory over the Dodgers on Friday night.
Joe Panik does it again! Solo HR gives Giants 1-0 lead pic.twitter.com/oGoVcZV3sy
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) March 31, 2018
Johnny Cueto took a perfect game into the seventh inning, but quickly lost it when Chris Taylor started the inning with a leadoff single. In turn, Alex Wood kept the Giants to one hit through eight innings, which kept the game scoreless heading into the ninth inning.
The Dodgers sent Jansen to the mound in the ninth inning, hoping to keep the Giants off the scoreboard. Instead, Panik sent Jansen’s second pitch into the right field bleachers to give the Giants the only run they’d need.
Hunter Strickland came in and closed out the game with two strikeouts and a pop-out, earning his second save of the season.
Friday’s game began in the same way as Opening Day — quietly.
Cueto and Wood held their opposition hitless through the first four innings. Austin Jackson and Hunter Pence reached first base on two errant throws by third baseman Logan Forsythe in the fourth and fifth respectively, but the first hit of the game didn’t come until later in the fifth.
Brandon Crawford broke up Wood’s no-hitter by running out a single that was softly hit to second baseman Chase Utley.
As for Cueto, he remained perfect through six innings. He retired 15 batters in succession before Chris Taylor singled into left field to leadoff the seventh inning. Nonetheless, Cueto was gifted with a double play and faced the minimum through his entire outing.
Cueto took a huge step towards a much-needed rebound this season on Friday night. Before being taken out after seven innings of work, he limited the Dodgers to one hit with four strikeouts.
Watson entered the game in the eighth and continued to dominate his former team. After striking out the side on Opening Day, he struck out another two on Friday. Of the seven batters he’s faced this season, he’s gotten five of them out via the strikeout.
The Giants will stay in Los Angeles for the third of their four-game series against the Dodgers on Saturday at 6:10 PM, in which Derek Holland will square off against Kenta Maeda.
Keaton Moore is a KNBR.com contributor, follow Keaton on Twitter at @KeatonAMoore