Advertisement

Giants find thrilling way to beat Dodgers and possibly snap out of their funk

There are many ways to lose a baseball game. But the way the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to their bitter rivals, the San Francisco Giants, on Monday night might be one of the worst to swallow.

Let’s set the scene: It was the first game of the season between these two teams, so of course, it had to come down to a tense ninth inning. The Giants were clinging to a 2-1 lead with new closer Mark Melancon on the mound. With one out, Justin Turner singled off Melancon, then advanced to second on a wild pitch after Yasmani Grandal struck out for the second out of the inning.

[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Baseball: It’s not too late to get in the game]

It seemed like this could be one of those games when the Giants bullpen flounders. Heck, we’ve seen it before. Adrian Gonzalez was at the plate and a single would bring home Turner to tie the game. But on this night, Buster Posey wasn’t having it.

Giants closer Mark Melancon jumps for joy after the final out. (Getty Images)
Giants closer Mark Melancon jumps for joy after the final out. (Getty Images)

After a swinging strike to Gonzalez, Posey fired the ball down to second base, picking up off Turner to end the game. Turner was a couple steps too far off the base, hoping for that base hit that would bring him around to score. Instead, he got caught slippin’.

Ugh. Wouldn’t you rather just lose 12-1 than having the final out picked off second base by the catcher with two outs in the ninth? What a gut-punch. Obviously, Turner wasn’t thrilled.

For the Giants, though, it might be the type of win that turns around a bad, bad week. They entered the contest losing four in a row and also fresh off losing their ace, Madison Bumgarner, to a dirt-bike accident that will have him sidelined indefinitely with a shoulder injury. They were outscored 26-8 in a weekend series against the Rockies and arrived home at AT&T Park on Monday in last place in the NL West.

So the Giants shook things up. They called up top prospect Christian Arroyo, 21, to play third base. They added Drew Stubbs to the big-league roster. They changed up their lineup, including putting Hunter Pence in the leadoff spot. It didn’t work to the tune of a blowout against the Dodgers, but it worked enough to get a win, which at this point was all the Giants were hoping for to break out of their funk.

“I mean, we needed it,” Posey told reporters after the game, including NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic. “I don’t think you can underscore it. We definitely needed it.”

Imagine a world where Turner doesn’t get picked off to end the game, and this horrible Giants week was compounded by the Dodgers pulling off a comeback win. That would be even tougher to swallow than this loss was for the Dodgers.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – –

Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!