LOS ANGELES — The Giants’ and Dodgers’ personnel starkly contrasted in the eighth inning.
To try to manufacture a run, San Francisco used three pinch hitters, including rookie David Villar for Brandon Belt, to find matchup advantages.
The Dodgers, a team full of superstars and hitters comfortable in any situation, didn’t go to their bench for substitutes against southpaw Sam Long. Former MVP Freddie Freeman singled, two-time All-Star Max Muncy moved him over, former top-10 prospect Jake Lamb wore a pitch, and another former MVP Cody Bellinger ripped the game-winning grand slam.
They each did it without a platoon edge.
Bellinger tossed his bat and skipped down the first base line after the slam — the second fans at Dodger Stadium have seen in as many days. His seventh career grand slam gave the Dodgers a 5-1 lead and sunk the Giants (48-45) to another deflating loss. San Francisco now trails LA in the division by a season-high 14.5 games.
All four eighth-inning runs were unearned, as Muncy’s chopper that advanced Freeman trickled through LaMonte Wade Jr.’s legs. Wade was at first base because Villar had replaced Belt. For the second straight game, MLB’s worst-ranked defense made two errors.
While the Giants had to fight their way back after falling behind 5-0 on Thursday, they battled to keep it 1-1 for the entire game. Starter Logan Webb in particular played gladiator.
For the first two innings, Webb had no feel for the zone. He was pulling his slider to his glove side. Leaving his sinker wide. His changeup floated through the strike zone’s floor.
The starter threw a first-pitch ball to eight of the first 11 Dodgers he faced. At one point in the first inning, Webb missed the zone 11 of 12 times. The third of his three consecutive first-inning walks scored a Dodgers run.
Webb got ahead 0-2 to Trayce Thompson in the second inning, but then lost him after the outfielder fouled off three offerings. Thompson’s free pass was Webb’s 2022 game-high fourth walk.
Despite throwing 51 pitches in the first two innings, and despite Yermín Mercedes’ error in left field, Webb prevented the Dodgers from blowing the game open. The Giants’ perfectly placed infield ended the second with a double play. Webb retired the heart of LA’s lineup in order in the third.
Yet against Anderson, the former Giant, SF tallied just one hit through three innings. The slow start came a night after getting no-hit through five.
“Obviously, we’d like to get hits early in the game,” Evan Longoria said after Thursday’s 9-6 loss. “And when we do start fast, it seems like we win games.”
Mercedes atoned for his error with a game-tying RBI single off Anderson in the fourth. The outfielder tried to lay down a hacking bunt to start the at-bat, but instead lined an 0-2 fastball into right field.
Using five sliders and a changeup, Webb won a battle with Will Smith to end the fifth inning. Then he jogged back out for the sixth at 94 pitches and proceeded to put down the side.
A gritty Webb got stronger as the game progressed. He only needed nine pitches to send his team back to the dugout in the sixth, but still had to give up the ball afterwards. The first two innings of searching for control caught up to him.
Both Webb and Anderson lasted six innings. Anderson is second — behind only undefeated teammate Tony Gonsolin — in winning percentage this season. Webb is 20-6 in decisions over the past two seasons. Neither was in line for a decision, since they left after six one-run innings.
Tyler Rogers and David Price extended the tie. A chess match broke out in the top of the eighth, with Dave Roberts and Gabe Kapler pulling every lever in search of matchup advantages. But David Villar, pinch-hitting for Brandon Belt, grounded out to end SF’s first-and-second threat.
Then the bottom of the eighth came, and Roberts had no need to sub out any of his lefties.
Bellinger stepped into the box after the single, error and hit-by-pitch. He whiffed on Long’s first fastball then wasn’t ready for the lightning-quick lefty’s 0-1 curveball. But Bellinger locked in after that mental hiccup, fouling off three straight 0-2 offerings.
By then, he’d downloaded Long’s arsenal. He wasn’t going to miss another curveball. Unlike when Darin Ruf smacked his game-tying slam, the Dodger Stadium crowd erupted. Bellinger came out for a curtain call and received another ovation when he jogged back out to his spot for the ninth.
Even with Bellinger hitting .208 on the season and .188 against left-handed pitching, the Dodgers weren’t going to replace him with a bat off the bench. It’s not necessarily a better philosophy, just a different type of talent.
