San Francisco

Dodgers Drop Opener to Giants, 2-1, in Throwback Pitcher's Duel

The San Francisco Giants scratched across two runs and then held on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1, in the first game between the longtime rivals this season.

The best rivalry in baseball is back. 

The San Francisco Giants scratched across two runs and then held on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1, in the first game between the longtime rivals this season. 

The game may have marked the first contest between the two clubs of the 2017 season, but it appeared as if we'd entered into a time machine and went back four years as pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Matt Cain were locked into a good old fashioned pitcher's duel. 

Cain (2-0) got the best of the Ryu (0-4) as the right-hander pitched six shutout innings, allowing just two hits with one walk and three strikeouts. 

Ryu recorded his first quality start of the season, allowing jut one run on five hits with one walk and three strikeouts in six solid innings, but it was not enough to earn his first victory since August of 2014.

"It was the best outing that I've had ever since the surgery," admitted Ryu to reporters after the game. "I limited them and gave up the least amount of runs. I really wanted to make sure they didn't get extra bases or home runs off of me." 

San Francisco nearly scratched a run across off Ryu in the bottom of the first inning, but right fielder Yasiel Puig gunned down Brandon Belt at the plate in what will surely be a Top 10 play on Sports Center later Monday night.

The Giants first run of the game came on some small ball in the bottom of the second. Brandon Crawford led off the inning with a double, and advanced to third on a groundout by rookie Christian Arroyo, who made his MLB debut on Monday.

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One batter later, Joe Panik brought Crawford home with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

Adam Liberatore pitched in his first action of the 2017 season, and struggled as he recorded just one out over the first three batters he saw, and was charged with a run when Hunter Pence singled home Panik off Josh Fields.

Sergio Romo faced his former team for the first time as he pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth in his return to AT&T Park as a member of the visiting Dodgers.

"I was just happy I went to the right dugout," he joked after the game.

The Dodgers scored a run in the top of the eighth when Chris Taylor beat out a double play allowing Chase Utley to score, but the rally would end there, as Taylor was thrown at second base by Buster Posey a few pitches later.

Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his fourth save of the season, but the game ended in unfathomable fashion as Justin Turner was picked off at second base after getting caught in no-man's land. 

"That was a bad baseball play," said Turner after the game. "I got a good secondary lead to third base, and just got caught."

The loss marked the sixth straight defeat for the Dodgers at AT&T Park, dating back to last season.

Up Next:

Once again, Clayton Kershaw returns to the mound after a loss against rookie LHP Ty Blach. First pitch is at 7:15PM PST. 

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