Red-hot SF Giants complete convincing sweep of Dodgers, first in LA in more than a decade
LOS ANGELES — The big, scary Dodgers don’t seem so menacing now, do they?
With a 7-3 win Sunday afternoon, the Giants completed a three-game sweep here at Dodger Stadium for the first time in more than a decade and only the sixth time since the teams moved west in 1958. Outscoring their archrivals 29-8 over the course of the weekend, their most runs ever in a three-game series here, it couldn’t have come in much more convincing fashion.
In three games, the Giants seemed to vanquish any leftover demons from a season ago, when they went 1-8 here and lost 14 times to the Dodgers.
Logan Webb earned the win Sunday, overcoming an outing in which he didn’t have his best stuff or command to limit Los Angeles to two runs over seven innings, but it required the work of Camilo Doval, who entered with one out in the ninth after Scott Alexander loaded the bases.
It had been more than a decade since the Giants’ last swept a series of at least three games at Dodger Stadium. The winning pitchers that series, Aug. 20-22, 2012, were Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. A rookie Brandon Crawford started only one of the games, entering as a defensive replacement in the other two.
The long-due sweep of their bitter rivals made for a sweet ending to one of the best road trips in franchise history.
Breaking out the brooms in back-to-back series in St. Louis then Los Angeles, the Giants completed only the fifth perfect road trip of at least six games in franchise history. They have won nine in a row away from Oracle Park and 11 of their 15 games overall since the calendar turned to June.
Climbing eight games over .500, the Giants overtook the Dodgers for second place in the NL West. The last time their record was this far above water was June 22 of last season, about a month before they visited Dodger Stadium and were swept over four games out of the All-Star break, the start of a seven-game losing streak that sank their season.
Look at how far they have come.
It wasn’t the Giants’ bullpen that imploded Friday night, but the Dodgers. Down to three healthy starters, San Francisco used eight pitchers to navigate Friday night’s 11-inning win, then needed only five to cover the remaining 18 innings, getting excellent work from Alex Wood and Tristan Beck on Saturday before Webb gave them seven solid innings Sunday.
It wasn’t the Giants who made costly defensive miscues over the course of the series, but the Dodgers. On Sunday, Crawford was able to advance to second on a single to left field that snuck under the glove of David Peralta, then scored from third when Freddie Freeman muffed a potential inning-ending double-play ball.
The Giants, who seemed so bereft of homegrown talent in contrast to the Dodgers just a season ago, got contributions Casey Schmitt, Luis Matos, Patrick Bailey and, of course, Webb, who were all drafted or signed as international amateurs and developed by San Francisco’s farm system.
After making his major-league debut Wednesday in St. Louis, Matos was unfazed by the bright lights and big stage of Dodger Stadium. The 21-year-old worked five walks in the first two games, made a sensational catch in center field Saturday, then contributed a two-RBI double Sunday as part of a four-run sixth inning that knocked Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin from the game and blew the score wide open.
Facing mounting injuries to their pitching staff — Alex Cobb hitting the injured list Sunday, following John Brebbia on Saturday — the Giants find themselves at a crucial crossroads: Can they sustain this pace and hold on to a wild card spot (they currently own a 1.5-game lead on the second spot), or even overtake the D-backs for the division?
At this point last season, the Giants owned the exact same record: 39-32. All to say, there’s a lot of baseball left to be played. If the Giants proved nothing else this weekend, it should at least be entertaining.
Up next
The Giants return home Monday to continue a stretch of 10 straight games against NL West opponents. They’ll host the fourth-place Padres for four games, followed by three against the first-place D-backs, before heading to Toronto and New York for their penultimate trip to the Eastern time zone. With Alex Cobb hitting the injured list, San Francisco is still finalizing its pitching plans.
Monday, 6:45 p.m. – TBA vs. RHP Michael Wacha (7-2, 2.89)
Tuesday 6:45 p.m. – TBA vs. TBA
Wednesday, 6:45 p.m. – TBA vs. RHP Yu Darvish (5-5, 4.74)
Thursday, 12:45 p.m. – TBA vs. LHP Blake Snell (3-6, 3.48)