Hundley, Belt Homers Lift Giants Over Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Hundley and Brandon Belt each hit two-run home runs and Chris Stratton pitched six solid innings to help the San Francisco Giants avoid a three-game sweep at Los Angeles with a 4-1 victory over the Dodgers on Sunday.
Hundley got the Giants going early with a homer in the first inning, halfway up the pavilion seats in left field for his eighth of the season. Belt followed two innings later with his 12th home run and first since returning from an appendectomy on June 1.
The Dodgers saw their modest five-game win streak come to an end, but they are still 11-3 in June. They went 7-2 on their just-completed homestand and now head to Chicago for a National League Championship Series rematch with the Cubs.
The Giants went 4-6 on their 10-day road trip to Washington, Miami and Los Angeles, and now return home for a 10-game homestand against the Marlins, Padres and Rockies.
Stratton (8-4) gave up a first-inning run when Hundley tried to cut down Justin Turner at second base and threw the ball into center field. Max Muncy came home from third base on the error. Otherwise the right-hander was stingy against a Dodgers lineup that entered with 34 home runs in June.
He gave up his lone unearned run on three hits over six innings, as the Dodgers did not hit a home run for the first time since May 31.
Dodgers rookie pitcher Caleb Ferguson (0-1) gave up four runs on just two hits, the home runs from Hundley and Belt. He struck out six in his third career start, with an unearned run that happened when Gorkys Hernandez reached base on an error by shortstop Enrique Hernandez in front of Belt's homer.
The Dodgers' bullpen delivered four more innings to give them 120 since May 17, the most in the National League over that span.
Former Dodgers left-hander Tony Watson opened the ninth inning for the Giants with a strikeout of Muncy before closer Hunter Strickland recorded the final two outs for his 14th save in 17 chances.
Muncy has six home runs in June, but did not hit one in seven official at-bats during the three-game series against the Giants.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: C Buster Posey, who saw action in all 16 innings of Thursday's game at Miami, was not in the starting lineup Sunday with what manager Bruce Bochy labeled "general soreness." SS Brandon Crawford will go on paternity leave Monday for the birth of his fourth child and could miss as many as three games.
Dodgers: RHP Tom Koehler had a setback in his recovery from a right shoulder strain and will now have to restart his rehab program, according to manager Dave Roberts. His targeted return has been pushed back to August. LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu had some tightness in his left groin strain and his recent bullpen outing was cut short to 20 pitches. Roberts would not call Ryu's situation a setback, but would not confirm a July return either.
UP NEXT
The Giants will send left-hander Andrew Suarez (2-4, 4.92 ERA) to the mound Monday as the club returns home from its 10-day road trip to face the Miami Marlins. In his second start since coming off the disabled list, RHP Kenta Maeda (4-4, 3.61) could be available for as many as 90 pitches Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs.