Brandon Belt carries Giants to win over Dodgers with three RBIs, two web gems
LOS ANGELES–Before Monday’s series-opener against the Dodgers, a local reporter asked Giants manager Bruce Bochy to share his thoughts on a vaunted lineup filled with power hitters.
“I don’t want to think about it,” a candid Bochy admitted.
After the Giants’ opening weekend in San Diego, Bochy didn’t want to think about his own lineup, either.
The Giants, however, insisted they would break through and on Monday, the lineup engineered a come-from-behind 4-2 win against a suspect Dodgers bullpen.
San Francisco couldn’t generate any offense in five scoreless innings against Dodgers starter Julio Urías, but when reliever Joe Kelly entered to start the sixth, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt greeted him with a solo home run to cut a two-run deficit in half.
Belt had just one hit in the Giants’ four-game series in San Diego, but before his next plate appearance, Dave Roberts tried to create a more favorable matchup by removing Kelly in favor of southpaw Scott Alexander.
It didn’t matter.
A double into the right center field gap brought home Pablo Sandoval and Steven Duggar, who kept the inning alive with base hits off Kelly, one of the Dodgers’ high-profile offseason acquisitions. After falling behind in the count 0-2, Sandoval went down below the zone for the second straight day to dig out a curveball and sent it into center field for a game-tying single.
Belt’s contributions weren’t limited to his work at the plate, either. In the second, he lunged away from the bag at first base to snag a throw from Evan Longoria while managing to keep his back foot on the bag for an out. In the eighth, Belt made another fine defensive play as he leaped to rob Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager of extra bases on a line drive.
The go-ahead double Belt hit in the seventh marked the 200th two-bagger of his career and it came four innings after Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford hit the same milestone with a double off of Urías.
Though a late comeback appeared unlikely for a Giants team that scored just five runs in its first four games, San Francisco persevered after Urías struck out seven and allowed three hits over the first five innings. The Dodgers will monitor Urías’ workload all season and removed the 22-year-old after he threw 77 pitches Monday.
A three-run outburst helped starter Drew Pomeranz earn a no-decision after he allowed two solo homers in five innings of work. Pomeranz opened with four shutout frames before left fielder Chris Taylor and pinch-hitter hit a combined 841 feet of home runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Monday’s outing was Pomeranz’s first start since August 10 of last season as the Boston Red Sox moved a struggling left-hander to the bullpen for the final two months of the year.
After a challenging season with the World Series champs, Pomeranz is looking to follow in the footsteps of several players who have resurrected their careers in San Francisco including Wednesday’s starter, Derek Holland.
The first matchup of the two rivals was also a homecoming for Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who served as the Dodgers general manager for four seasons before heading north to lead the Giants’ front office. Even after the Giants’ 1-3 start, Zaidi was all smiles as he stood on the dugout railing before the game and his expression was surely unchanged after the outcome was decided.