Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — Kike Hernandez did not want the free base. It came without even the pain that arrives with a 90-mph fastball to the skin, the pitch just barely grazing his elbow pad, the softest kiss.
But Hernandez argued, immediately doing a 180 and shaking his head at the home-plate umpire. He could go to first and load the bases without an out. But he hoped his mouth could let him stay in the batter’s box with two on in the fifth.
That is how badly the righty Dodgers slugger wanted to hit against Jeff Samardzija, which is a poor omen for the Giants.
Hernandez took first, but only because replay review made him. On a day on which the Dodgers homered three times off Samardzija, it makes some sense, the Giants falling 7-2 at Dodger Stadium in the first leg of a three-game set.
Samardzija has struggled mightily early, 13 2/3 innings in which he’s surrendered 15 earned runs. He still did not have the splitter that he relies so heavily on, a blister bothering him in the season’s first few starts and taking away a weapon. The Giants (6-9) stayed away from Samardzija in the opening series in Los Angeles but could not protect him this time. If Tyler Anderson continues to emerge and Drew Smyly returns healthy, the Giants would have decisions to make.
Still, Samardzija sailed through the Dodgers’ order in the first couple innings, Mookie Betts’ double the only hit he allowed to the first nine opposing batters. The second time through, though, LA went 6-for-9.
The Dodgers got two in the third (Betts homering) and three more in the fourth (Max Muncy and Will Smith going deep). The indictment — Hernandez desperate to keep swinging — came in the fifth, which could have been worse.
Sam Selman followed Samardzija and inherited a bases-loaded, none-out jam that he should have escaped, but Donovan Solano slipped a throw to first that should have been a double play. Selman, who went two innings allowing just a walk and struck out three, had his best day as a pro, including a strikeout of Joc Pederson that caused curses to echo around the empty park.
A righty-heavy Giants lineup that has been solid this year could do little off lefty Julio Urias, who was pulled early, after the fourth, and the Dodgers turned to righties to get the Giants to flip.
The Giants’ first run came in the third, a Donovan Solano RBI single (of course, his major league-high 21st hit and 14th RBI), knocking in Mike Yastrzemski (of course, his league-leading 13th run scored). Wilmer Flores hit his third homer of the year in the sixth, but that would conclude the Giants’ highlights.
The Giants mounted a threat in the seventh, Darin Ruf and Chadwick Tromp setting the table, but a couple pinch-hitters — Pablo Sandoval (who lined out) and Alex Dickerson (who struck out) — couldn’t come through, and Yastrzemski followed with his own K.
They couldn’t climb out of the hole Samardzija dug, the big righty throwing 90 pitches and getting just four whiffs. He’s pitching to contact and hoping the balls find gloves and not grass. On Friday, the balls found neither: just seats.
