SF Giants send Dodgers to seventh straight loss in action-packed series opener

SAN FRANCISCO — Willy Adames started this Dodgers series in the same fashion as their last meeting in Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani responded with the first splash hit of his career, and things were only getting started Friday night at Oracle Park.

Adames homered, tripled and drove in three runs, Dominic Smith added a solo shot, and Jung Hoo Lee also tripled and drove home three while reaching base three times. The Giants needed each and every one to secure an action-packed 8-7 win to open their first home series of the season against their archrivals.

“We needed it,” manager Bob Melvin said of the offensive outburst, the most runs the Giants have scored behind Webb since May 16 or in any game since June 22. “Typically a night game here, you don’t see that many runs scored. But we did it early, added on and had a big inning. Obviously we gave up a few runs and hung on at the end. But the offense is starting to come around a little bit.”

Camilo Doval allowed the tying run to reach scoring position but got Will Smith to ground into a game-ending double play to earn his 15th save and send the Dodgers (56-39) to their seventh straight loss. The Giants (52-43), meanwhile, improved to 7-2 in their past nine games, cutting the gap in the National League West standings to four games with two to play until the All-Star break.

After getting his first taste of the rivalry last month at Dodger Stadium, Adames said the soldout crowd of 40,785 was the “loudest we’ve had all year” but he also noticed the proliferation of blue in the seats. “I’m not gonna lie, I feel like we had too many Dodgers fans here,” he added. “Maybe tomorrow we get some San Francisco fans.”

Logan Webb turned in his shortest outing since Memorial Day and allowed his most runs of the season as the Dodgers jumped on him for six runs in 5 1/3 innings. They scored four in the sixth before Melvin came to get him with one down, only the fourth time in 20 starts he has failed to complete six frames.

Melvin said he was “reluctant” to pull Webb, but “they were on him pretty quickly there, which you don’t see very often.

“He was pitching a pretty good game up until that point. … It’s rare to see him

Making his final start before heading to Atlanta for his second All-Star appearance, Webb looked to be in command besides Ohtani’s third-inning home run but began the sixth by running a fastball too far inside on Mookie Betts. He proceeded to surrender back-to-back doubles to Will Smith and Teoscar Hernandez before Michael Conforto put an end to his night with a two-run blast that cut the Giants’ lead to 8-6.

Webb, who earned the win to take a 9-6 record and 2.94 ERA into the break, said he was “not really sure” what happened in the sixth. “Just kind of a long break in between (innings) and kind of got away from my game plan a little bit.”

Playing his first game at Oracle Park since departing as a free agent in the offseason, Conforto created a pair of Dodgers runs with the homer to straightaway center and helped prevent one for his former club with a perfect throw from left field to nab Lee attempting to tag from third in the fourth.

Lee had already driven in a pair of leadoff walks with a triple just out of the reach of right fielder Teoscar Hernandez that put the Giants back in front, 3-2.

Adames followed suit with a two-run triple the following inning, and Lee beat out an infield single when Anthony Banda stumbled covering first base to tack on another in a five-run fifth that widened the Giants lead to 8-2. The big inning got started with a solo home run from Dominic Smith, his second of the year.

Adames opened the scoring against Dodgers starter Dustin May in the second inning with a 416-foot solo shot into visitors’ bullpen, reminiscent of the first-inning blast that began things in the Giants’ Game 1 win in Los Angeles last month.

He went the other way for both of his extra-base hits, also sending his triple into the right-center field gap.

“It’s tough to go out there,” Melvin said. “It was a little warmer tonight. The ball was traveling a little bit better. But the way he hit it, the way he’s been swinging, you feel good about him at any particular time. He’s been swinging the bat good for a while now and was in position to drive in some runs tonight.”

Dating back to the Giants’ series at Coors Field that led into the rivals’ first meeting last month, Adames has homered seven times in 29 games while batting .304 with a .952 OPS.

“Maybe a few weeks ago, I started feeling better at the plate,” Adames said. “Taking better at-bats, putting myself in hitter’s counts and taking advantage of that. I feel like since then I’ve been feeling really good at the plate. I’ve been executing my plan, and that’s the most important thing, just trusting the plan that you have.”

The initial lead wouldn’t hold for long, as Ohtani unloaded on the first pitch he saw from Webb in the third inning and sent it 410 feet into the water beyond right field. The first splash hit of Ohtani’s career put the Dodgers up 2-1 — and sent a souvenir-seeking kayaker diving into McCovey Cove — but was made inconsequential by the time the ball had dried off.

Up next

RHP Landen Roupp (6-5, 3.39) faces off against RHP Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 1.50) in the middle game of the series. Pitching against the Giants for the first time with the Dodgers, Ohtani isn’t expected to go more than three innings while he continues to rehab from Tommy John surgery. The first 20,000 fans will receive a Barry Bonds bobblehead, and Bonds will throw out the ceremonial first pitch in addition to other pregame festivities honoring the all-time home run king.