Dodgers 8, Giants 3: Teoscar Hernandez lands the big blow in the first rivalry game of 2024

Chad Moriyama 04/01/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After taking the series against the Cardinals, the rivalry with the Giants resumed tonight and the Dodgers drew first blood in a dominating 8-3 victory thanks to timely hitting and Teoscar Hernandez‘s power. James Paxton didn’t have his best, but he battled and gave the offense time to cook.

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The Giants sent out their 26-year-old rookie Keaton Winn to face the Dodgers, and he was pretty effective against this lineup. Especially so when you consider that his outing started with Mookie Betts tripling off the wall and then Jung Hoo Lee, which was eventually cashed in by a Shohei Ohtani ground out for an early 1-0 lead.

After a quiet 2nd, the top of the order started a rally again, as Mookie drew a walk and Shohei doubled down the line. The Dodgers cashed in both runners behind a Freddie Freeman single and a Will Smith sacrifice fly to push the lead to 3-0.

But Winn did rebound by getting through perfect 4th and 5th frames before exiting.

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Staked to a lead, Paxton made his Dodger debut and didn’t have anywhere near his best command. However, he battled and Dave Roberts was able to find out something about his new pitcher.

Paxton scuffled from the get-go, giving up a lead-off single and later a walk in the 1st, a lead-off walk in the 2nd, and a walk and a single in the 3rd before finally getting a clean frame in the 4th. However, he fought and didn’t give up any runs, and there was no bigger battle than in the 5th.

A pair of singles started the inning, but Paxton induced a double play to put himself on the verge. However, he couldn’t put away a pair of hitters up next, going 3-2 on both and losing them to walks to load the bases. With Ryan Brasier ready, Dave decided to roll the dice and see what he had in Paxton, and he got rewarded with a ground out to end the threat and his outing.

5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 5 K, 97 Pitches

Brasier did eventually take over in the 6th and served up a homer down the line to Michael Conforto to cut the lead to 3-1.

But the Dodgers got that right back in the other half of the frame, as a Freeman single and Smith walk set the stage, and a ROOGY reliever being brought in for Teoscar didn’t have much impact as he smashed a three-run homer to left. That’s his fourth of the year, and it gave the Dodgers a 6-1 lead.

Seemingly interested in doing charity, Joe Kelly entered for the 7th and gave the Giants a chance to get back into it. Sure enough, he surrendered three singles and a run, but thankfully got out of further damage thanks to the Giants running into the third out. It was 6-2 by the time he exited.

Yet again it was the offense that made sure the run didn’t matter much, as they tacked a pair onto the lead in their half of the inning. Doubles from Betts and Freeman accounted for one run, and Smith drove in another with a single to make it 8-2.

That was it for the offense, but it was enough, as Dinelson Lamet made his Dodger debut and started with a clean 1-2-3 frame in the 8th. After issuing a walk to start the 9th, an error eventually put a pair on, and a sacrifice fly made it 8-3 with an unearned run charged to Lamet. But he got a strikeout for the final out of the game to seal the victory.

Let’s go.

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Max Muncy versus pine tar.

Clayton Kershaw in XXX.

Conspiracy time.

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5-2. They might be decent.

The two teams do it again tomorrow at the same time of 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. However, it’s a mismatch on paper with Giants ace Logan Webb facing a pen game for what sure looks like a six-man rotation.

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