Los Angeles

Dodgers Beat Giants 9-5, in Battle for NL West

Adrian Gonzalez knocked in three runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their lead in the NL West to two games with a 9-5 victory over the rival San Francisco Giants in the opening game of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.

Let the battles begin.

Adrian Gonzalez knocked in three runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their lead in the NL West to two games, with a 9-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the opening game of a three-game set at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. 

The longtime rivals played the first of nine games against each other in the next 30 days in what will likely decide the winner of the division.

The Dodgers took that ever-important first step on Tuesday by vanquishing their enemy and ace Madison Bumgarner, guaranteeing themselves at least a share of first place when the series ends on Thursday.

"He's one of the elite pitchers in baseball," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of beating the Giants ace. "Anytime you can get some runs across against Madison Bumgarner you're doing something right."

Gonzalez stayed as steady as the olympic flame, finishing 2-for-4 with three RBI, extending his hitting streak to a team-high 16 games. The first baseman is batting .410 with seven doubles, six homers and 19 RBI during the streak.

"We've just been taking it one game at a time and our focus has been on to win the game at hand," Gonzalez said of the division race with San Francisco. "I know they've had a tough second half, but we just have to keep playing baseball, keep winning games, and we'll see where it ends up."

Corey Seager scored the Dodgers first run of the game in the first inning after his 35th double of the season. The Rookie of the Year candidate collected his third consecutive multi-hit game, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored as he lengthened his hitting streak to 14 games.

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Seager scored three runs for the second consecutive game, and became just the fourth Dodgers in franchise history joining Sandy Amoros (1954), Bill Russell (1969) and Steve Sax (1982) to do so in back-to-back games.

Soon-to-be-father, Rob Segedin, sent a rocket to left field in the second inning as he homered for the second consecutive day. The lefty-killer who debuted against former Cy Young Award winner David Price, can now add Bumgarner to his list of lefty conquests.

"It's nice to see a guy perform and get rewarded," Roberts said of Segedin. "He's taken this opportunity and run with it. He's added energy and enthusiasm."

Another rookie, Andrew Toles, also homered for the second straight game when he went deep for a two-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth inning. Minor league teammates, Segedin and Toles, both hit the first home run of their MLB careers in Cincinnati on Monday and both hit their first big league homers at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.

"I hit one, he hit one. He hit one, I hit one," Toles said of the back-and-forth with Segedin. "I went to the bathroom so I didn't get to see his tonight, but I heard it. I guess it's just luck. We're just trying to stay up here to be honest with you."

Bumgarner (12-8) labored like a giant throughout the game, allowing runs in four of the five innings he worked. The former World Series MVP struggled, surrendering five runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts in just five innings pitched.

"I thought I made some pretty good pitches, but sometimes you just have to give other guys credit," Bumgarner said of his start. "Sometimes it's just not gonna go your way."

The four-time All-Star nicknamed "MadBum" fell to 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA against the Dodgers in four starts this season. 

"It doesn't make a difference what team it is, you never want that to happen," Bumgarner said of his record this year against the Dodgers. "I don't take some losses better than others."

Meanwhile, Kenta Maeda, the Dodgers most reliable starting pitcher this season, survived the San Francisco assault and earned his team-leading 13th win of the season, as well as a $1.75 million bonus for making his 25th start and surpassing 140 innings pitched.

Despite being tossed to and fro like a ship in a rough sea, Maeda (13-7) bowed, but did not break as he battled through multiple jams, escaping with just three runs allowed on six hits and four strikeouts in five innings pitched.

"Overall I just didn't have a good feel for my pitches control and command wise," Maeda said of his start through a translator. "I knew that if I kept the game close, my teammates would pick me up and they sure did."

Maeda tied fellow Japanese star, Hideo Nomo (1995) for the third most wins by a Dodger rookie and is 5-0 in his last six starts. 

Angel Pagan went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored an extended his season-high hitting streak to 19 games as San Francisco has lost seven of their last nine games.

"We kept answering back, but we just couldn't finish the deal," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We have to put this behind us and keep fighting. There's a lot of baseball left."

Denard Span hit a solo shot off Kenley Jansen with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for San Francisco. Jansen retired Pagan on the next pitch to earn a four-out save, his 36th of the season.

The NL West now lies before Los Angeles like an open palm, with two more games against their reeling rivals, the Dodgers can take a stranglehold on the division with wins on Wednesday and Thursday.

Players of the Game:

Adrian Gonzalez: 2-for-4 with three RBI
Corey Seager: 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored.
Angel Pagan: 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.

Three Takeaways:

1. The Record You Don't Want to Have: The Los Angeles Dodgers tied a Major League record on Tuesday when they placed starting pitcher Scott Kazmir on the 15-day disabled list (neck). The move meant that the team has placed 27 different players on the disabled list this season, tying the 2012 Boston Red Sox.


2. Here's to you Mr. Robinson:
It's been a whirlwind 24 hours for rookie Rob Segedin. After hitting his first Major League home run of his career on Monday, Segedin headed straight for the hospital in Los Angeles where his wife, Robin, is due to give birth to their first son, Robinson, later Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Segedin started in right field and homered as an encore against the Giants on Tuesday.

3. Two Streaky: Dodger teammates Adrian Gonzalez and Corey Seager each extended their hitting streaks on Tuesday to 14 and 16 games, respectively.

Up Next:

Giants (68-57): San Francisco sends All-Star Johnny Cueto to the mound to even the series tomorrow.

Dodgers (70-55): Rich Hill will make his Dodger debut when he starts on Wednesday at 7:10PM PST.

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