Justin Maxwell and Brandon Belt hit a pair of two-run homers and San Francisco continued their monopoly of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 6-2 victory on Saturday.
The Giants have won 9 of the last 11 meetings against their rivals, including five straight as they move within a half-game of the Dodgers for first place in the National League West.
It was "Bring Your Dog to the Park" day at Dodger Stadium as an estimated 1,000 pups packed the outfield bleachers to take in the game and enjoy the "All-You-Can-Eat" Dodger dogs.
Veteran pitcher Tim Hudson, who turns 40 next month, shut down the Dodgers for the second consecutive game. After surrendering back-to-back home runs to Joc Pederson and Justin Turner in the first inning, Hudson (5-6) pitched six scoreless innings allowing just six hits with three strikeouts.
"He's amazing at his age to go out there on a hot day and give us an effort like that," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of his aging starting pitcher. "I can't explain it. We've pitched well. We've got timely hits… But there's a lot of baseball left. Going to be a tough division. L.A. they're the team to beat, but we're going to come in here and try to play well."
Hudson improved to 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in two starts against LA this season.
"It's nice to win any time here, but especially this year with such a tight race with these guys," Hudson said. "Fortunately, we've been able to play some good baseball against these guys when we need it. We'd love to be in first place, and we've put ourselves in a pretty good position to do that."
The Giants jumped on Dodgers starter Carlos Frias in the first inning. Nori Aoki was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, and Joe Panik followed with a double to right field. To sac flies later, and San Francisco had an early two-run lead.
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The Dodgers would rally in the bottom half of the first, tying the game on back-to-back solo shots by Pederson and Turner. The second time Los Angeles has hit back-to-back home runs this season.
Frias (4-5) settled in from there, but allowed two-run homers to Maxwell and Belt in the top of the 5th and 6th innings respectively. Frias' ERA ballooned to 5.10 at home this season as the Dominican right-hander allowed six runs on five hits in 5.1 innings.
Dodgers reliever Matt West was recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Oklahoma City and pitched two scoreless innings in his Dodgers debut.
Game Notes:
It was the Dodgers annual "Pups at the Park" day at Dodger Stadium as fans sitting in the bleachers brought their furry friends to the game.
The Dodgers optioned relief pitcher Josh Ravin back to Triple-A Oklahoma City after allowing three runs in an inning of relief a night prior.
