No Moore! Dodgers Destroy Giants 9-3 to Win Series, Magic Number at 5

Surrender is a powerful force.

San Francisco waved the proverbial white flag as the Los Angeles Dodgers dominated the rival Giants, 9-3, on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Giants were looking for lightning to strike twice at the Ravine as left-hander Matt Moore got the start for San Francisco.

Three weeks prior, Moore had a no-hitter after 26 outs against the Dodgers before Corey Seager hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to bust up Moore's date with history.

"That last outing here, he added a cut-fastball that we didn't know he had in his repertoire," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "Today we were prepared for it."

Moore (11-12) entered the game with a streak of 15 straight innings at Dodger Stadium without allowing an earned run, but was beat up early and often by the boys in blue on Wednesday. 

The Dodgers scored five runs in the first inning off Moore, punctuated by a three-run home run by Yasiel Puig who promptly made sure not to look at Madison Bumgarner as he ran around the bases.

"Last time we faced Moore he almost no-hit us," said Puig. "Today we were able to get him out of the game early and face their bullpen that has been struggling."

Puig has stayed hot since he was recalled on Sept 2nd. The Cuban slugger is batting .333 with a double, three homers and eight RBI over the span of seven games. 

"I really appreciate the way the team has welcomed me since my return," Puig said of the difference in his play since he was recalled. "I'm trying to show that I'm grateful for the opportunity."

Moore hasn't looked the same since he threw 133 pitches in his no-hit bid on Aug. 25^th. Since that start, the left-hander has allowed 17 runs over five starts, posting an ERA of 7.29 over that span.

"Sometimes when guys get stretched out that long they have a hard time bouncing back," Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said of how Moore looked this time. "We were all interested to see what would happen in his next couple starts. I was in New York when Johan [Santana] got stretched out in his no-hitter and unfortunately he was never the same after that."

Moore couldn't make it out of the second inning as he allowed six runs on seven hits, recording just three outs, matching the shortest outing of his career. 

"It's a bad day to have a bad day," Moore said after the game. "I can't do anything about it now. I just have to move on to my next start." 

San Francisco scored first to start the game. After a leadoff walk to Denard Span to start the game, the speedster reached second on a passed ball and scored one-pitch later on a single to right field by Angel Pagan.

Puig thought he had thrown out Span at the plate on the play, but Carlos Ruiz dropped the Cuban missile from right field and the run scored.

After the Dodgers responded with five runs in the bottom half of the first, Ehire Adrianza hit his second home run of the season—both against the Dodgers—in the second inning. Adrianza's only other home run this season was off Clayton Kershaw on April 9.

Howie Kendrick and Andrew Toles each added a pair of RBI doubles in the third and fifth innings as the Dodgers lead 9-2 heading into the sixth inning. 

"He has an ability to impact the game in a lot of different ways," Roberts said of Toles. "He never ceases to amaze. That was a big hit and Andrew has opened all of our eyes."

Brandon Belt doubled in a run in the top of the sixth for SF, but Bruce Bochy signed an unconditional surrender immediately after, as the Giants made wholesale changes across the board. 

"There was a little confusion with all the changes and the lineup card," Roberts said of all the San Francisco substiutions. "I wanted to make sure I had everything right."

The Giants now set their sights on a four-game series in San Diego this weekend. SF is currently deadlocked in a three-team race for the Wild Card, but have lost their last six straight games to the Padres since the All-Star Break. 

Kenta Maeda (16-9) earned his sixteenth victory of the season and second in a row as he allowed two runs on just three hits with six strikeouts in five easy innings of work.

"It was big for me personally to have a comfortable lead going into the second inning," Maeda said through a translator after the game. "My command was off, but my teammates picked me up. It was a good day."

Los Angeles now leads the National League West by a whopping six games with just ten left to play in the season. Their Magic Number to clinch the division was lowered to five.

Players of the Game:

Yasiel Puig: Three-run homer.
Howie Kendrick: Two-run double.
Carlos Ruiz: 2-for-4 with two runs scored. 

Three Takeaways:

1. Pay the Man: The third inning of the game on Wednesday which aired on ESPN, allowed Vin Scully to do the play-by-play rather than the normal ESPN broadcasts, so the nation could hear Scully's call.. After the inning ended, Scully motioned to the ESPN booth to pay the man.

Absolutely classic - Vin Scully appears on ESPN and after signing off - "PAY ME" video (h/t @shahanLA) pic.twitter.com/KN9k7hMJrU — CJ Fogler (@cjzero) September 22, 2016

2. Don't Look At Me: Yasiel Puig hit a three-run homer off San Francisco starter Matt Moore in the first inning and a lot of Dodger fans had something to say to Madison Bumgarner about it. Including the legendary, Vin Scully, himself.

"I just wonder whether Madison Bumgarner was watching that home run." #Puig — Vin Scully (@VinScullyTweet) September 22, 2016

3. Say No Moore: Since he left the game after throwing 133 pitches on August 25^th, following a single by Corey Seager that broke up his no-hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, San Francisco starting pitcher, Matt Moore, has an ERA of 7.29, allowing 17 runs over his last five games.

Matt Moore's ERA is 7.29 since he threw 133 pitches at Dodger Stadium in his no-hit bid on Aug. 25 #SFGiants #Dodgers #SFvsLA — Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) September 22, 2016

Up Next:

Giants (80-72): San Francisco heads down south to San Diego for a four-game series with the Padres.

Dodgers (86-66): Los Angeles opens up the final four games of the season at Dodger Stadium on Thursday when Brett Anderson starts at 7:10 PM PST.