Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — A talented starting pitcher overwhelming what is usually a powerful lineup. An offensive attack systemically battering a usually excellent opposing starter for the worst outing of his career. That offense adding on late and finding the underbelly of a bullpen.
A day after Mike Tauchman transformed into a magician — now you see the home run, now you don’t — the Giants did their best to morph into their nemeses.
Just like the Dodgers turned Anthony DeSclafani into a piñata last week, the Giants turned Julio Urias into a batting practice arm. Just like (insert any Dodgers star starter here) made the Giants’ bats hollow, Logan Webb frustrated one of the best offenses in baseball for five innings of one-hit ball. The Giants broke through Friday night by beating the Dodgers for the first time in five tries, and perhaps they realized it was such a nice feeling that they wanted to keep chasing it.
The Giants jumped all over Urias and got a solid return start from Webb in an 11-6 win at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, and the very least San Francisco can do is leave Los Angeles with a series split. Even though Clayton Kershaw is starting for the Dodgers on Sunday, the Giants can feel confident behind Kevin Gausman.
The Giants (32-20) broke a second-place tie with the Dodgers and remained 1.5 games behind the Padres, who just don’t lose.
After all that concern from the three-game sweep at Oracle Park, all the Giants needed to do was borrow from the Dodgers and crush an impressive opposing starter. Their 11 runs are the most they have scored at Dodger Stadium since Sept. 14, 2013, when they poured in 19.
SOLAN pic.twitter.com/pmgjGERcMU
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 30, 2021
Urias had never allowed more than six runs in an outing, and the Giants tagged him for seven (six earned). The onslaught was relentless, and two days after the Dodgers pitched a bullpen game, they had to allow the lefty to eat innings fairly deep into the game.
The Giants sent nine to the plate in the second inning, in which they stacked four singles together for two runs, and a bases-loaded walk to Mike Yastrzemski generated another. The third inning was quieter, but still featured a Wilmer Flores single followed by a Donovan Solano home run. In the fourth it was a Yastrzemski double followed by Evan Longoria and Flores singles.
There is never enough of a cushion, so Steven Duggar’s two-run double in the seventh and Longoria’s blast in the eighth were welcomed as the lead began bloating.
LONG(oria) GONE pic.twitter.com/Xro5sfBWO9
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 30, 2021
In all, the Giants totaled 16 hits — tying a season high set in Cincinnati on May 20 — and four were by their first basemen. Flores returned from the IL and went 3-for-3, then LaMonte Wade Jr. pinch-hit for matchup reasons and singled, too. Each player in the starting lineup who was not Webb recorded at least one hit.
For Solano, who has not been himself since returning from the IL, it was his second homer of the year and second homer in three games. Perhaps he is coming alive. For Longoria, his dinger was the eighth of his season, and he now has a six-game hitting streak in which he is 9-for-22 (.409) with three homers. The Giants are trying to rest him more often, similarly to Posey, and it’s paying off.
They did not need shutdown pitching, but they got it for a little while anyway.
Webb was outstanding, if brief through 62 pitches of his first start back from a shoulder strain. He was energized for his first start in Los Angeles in front of fans — there were a Dodger Stadium season-high 19,097 on hand — and he pitched like a 24-year-old who was channeling that energy well.
He allowed just one hit in five innings — a first-inning double to Justin Turner that scored the only earned run charged to him — and was brilliant without relying upon his most notable offering.
His changeup has taken a backseat to his slider, which induced 11 of his 12 whiffs on the afternoon. Each of his seven strikeouts was obtained through swings and misses. The Dodgers swung at his slider 13 times and made contact — weak contact — just twice.
His four-seamer looked rested, rather than rusty, maxing out at 95.9 mph. He was facing a rejuvenated lineup that included Cody Bellinger and Zach McKinstry, but only was touched, apart from the first inning, because of Solano’s misplays.
In the second, the Dodgers sent two consecutive ground balls toward the Giants’ second baseman: the first he bobbled, the second went through him. It put runners on the corners for Urias, who squeezed in a run.
Solano would make up for it.
The bullpen behind Webb was shaky — notably, Scott Kazmir was roughed up for two runs in a 28-pitch inning, and Jose Alvarez let up a home run to left to Pujols that Tauchman could not bring back — but on days when the Giants record 16 hits, that generally won’t matter.
