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Dodgers explode to beat Giants with walks, more Max Muncy power

April 13, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO — Major League Baseball has instituted a series of new rules designed to put more action into the game.

But the Dodgers are doing their best to take some of it out.

The leaders in baseball with 72 walks in their first 13 games this season, the Dodgers used four in a row – including one on a pitch-clock violation and another to end a 15-pitch at-bat by Freddie Freeman with the bases loaded – to spark a sixth-inning rally and come from behind to beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-5, on Wednesday night.

Freeman’s feature-length at-bat with the bases loaded and no outs featured nine consecutive full-count foul balls against Giants lefty Taylor Rogers. When Rogers finally missed the strike zone again, it forced in the go-ahead run.

Two batters later, Max Muncy landed the knockout blow – a three-run home run off John Brebbia, the only hit of the five-run inning.

It was Muncy’s second home run of the game, his fourth of the series and the 25th of his career against the Giants (11 at Oracle Park). Twenty-one of those have come since the start of the 2020 season. According to MLB statistician Sarah Langs, only one player has tormented one team more than Muncy has done to the Giants in that time – Aaron Judge has 22 home runs against the Baltimore Orioles since 2020.

The Dodgers’ five-run explosion salvaged a game that started awkwardly for Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw came into the game with a career ERA of 1.60 at Oracle Park. But he gave up two bloop singles to start the first inning, wound up on the ground after trying to cover first base on one play and again when he scrambled to make a play behind the mound. A bad slider to Darin Ruf resulted in a double and a 2-0 Giants lead.

The double came in Ruf’s first second-time-around at-bat for the Giants. They traded him to the New York Mets last season then re-signed him last week after the Mets released him this spring.

The second inning was only slightly better for Kershaw. Joey Bart beat out an infield single and was safe at second when Heliot Ramos’ ground ball narrowly missed first Kershaw and then the second-base bag, causing Miguel Vargas to misplay it for an error.

With the inning extended, Wilmer Flores dumped an RBI single into right field for a 3-0 Giants lead.

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The Dodgers began chipping away at that lead with two runs in the fourth inning – and it could have been more.

J.D. Martinez led off the inning with a triple and scored on an RBI single by James Outman. Two-out singles by David Peralta and Miguel Rojas set up an RBI double by Mookie Betts. But Rojas left the game after his hit with cramping in his left hamstring.

That brought up Freeman with a chance to tie the score. He drove a ball to the wall in straightaway center field but Giants outfielder Bryce Johnson made a spectacular catch, crashing into the wall to rob Freeman of extra-base hits. Johnson took a long time to leave the field and came out of the game with a possible concussion.

Muncy tied it with a solo home run an inning later instead and the Dodgers blew it open in the sixth. Trayce Thompson added a two-run home run in the seventh – following a Vargas walk.

More to come on this story.

Orange County Register

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Dodgers explode to beat Giants with walks, more Max Muncy power

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