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    Dodgers can’t overcome sloppy start in loss to Giants
    • April 22, 2026

    SAN FRANCISCO — Like a golfer shanking one off the first tee box, the Dodgers needed an early do-over.

    But defensive mistakes left them in the woods, helping to fuel a three-run first inning for the San Francisco Giants against Yoshinobu Yamamoto that stood up as the difference in a 3-1 Dodgers defeat on a soggy Tuesday night at Oracle Park.

    The Dodgers have now lost three of their past four games. After scoring 12 runs in Monday’s win at Coors Field, they managed just three hits in the series opener against the Giants.

    The decisive inning started when fans were still drying off their seats from a pregame rain shower. Willy Adames led off the bottom of the first with a 104.6 mph rocket to the right of shortstop Hyeseong Kim. Kim flagged it down on one hop but his throw sailed over first base and into the Dodgers’ dugout, putting Adames on second base.

    Yamamoto couldn’t absorb the misfortune. He gave up a single to Luis Arraez, walked Matt Chapman and then gave up another single to Rafael Devers, bringing a run in.

    Casey Schmitt lofted a fly ball into shallow left-center. Alex Call was playing center field for Andy Pages (getting his first day off this season) and came charging in, crashing into left fielder Teoscar Hernandez as he caught the ball. Arraez tagged up and scored on the play.

    Jung Hoo Lee made it a three-run first inning for the Giants with an RBI single.

    Yamamoto settled down after the rough start. He retired the next 10 batters in order and didn’t give up another hit until the sixth inning. He escaped more damage in the sixth when Lee tried to score from first base on Ramos’ two-out single to center field. It was a bad idea. The relay from Call to Alex Freeland easily beat him home.

    After the first four batters he faced all reached base, Yamamoto still went seven innings, allowing just two more hits.

    The Dodgers, meanwhile, never got started offensively.

    Giants starter Landen Roupp gave up a single and a walk in the first three innings while striking out five. He did lose touch with the strike zone for one inning. But the Dodgers could only get one run out of it.

    Roupp’s first 27 pitches of the fourth inning included just eight strikes. Four walks loaded the bases and forced in a run with one out. But Call bounced into an inning-ending double play, letting Roupp off the hook.

    The Giants right-hander went just five innings because of an inflated pitch count. But he struck out seven and allowed just one hit to go with five walks. The Dodgers managed just mild threats against the string of relievers deployed by first-year Giants manager Tony Vitello in Roupp’s wake.

    Hernandez doubled with one out in the sixth but didn’t advance. Shohei Ohtani beat out an infield single in the seventh, extending his on-base streak to 53 consecutive games (tying Shawn Green for the second-longest in franchise history, since 1900) and putting two runners on with two outs. Kyle Tucker struck out to end the inning.

    More to come on this story.

    ​ Orange County Register 

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