Daily Clips April 28, 2018

Transcription

1 Daily Clips April 28, 2018

2 LOS ANGELES DODGERS DAILY CLIPS SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2018 MLB.COM Turner excited to hit; Seager rests ailing hip - Ken Gurnick Kemp leaves early with tight left quad - Ken Gurnick Ryu gets it done on mound, at plate vs. Giants - Ken Gurnick Cingrani's 'dead arm,' Baez's balk sink Dodgers - Ken Gurnick LA TIMES Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner takes swings off tee for real this time - Andy McCullough Pedro Baez falls off the mound and Dodgers lose to Giants Andy McCullough OC REGISTER Dodgers Justin Turner takes next step in recovery from wrist injury, hits off tee - Bill Plunkett Walker Buehler returns from Rancho Cucamonga (wink, wink) for second Dodgers start - Bill Plunkett Dodgers can t hold two-run lead, lose series opener to Giants - Bill Plunkett TRUE BLUE LA Matt Kemp exits with left quad tightness - Eric Stephen Dodgers unravel in opening loss to Giants - Eric Stephen Quakes win 14-9, Lux homers and drives in 5 - Craig Minami DODGER INSIDER Five Takeaways: Potential win for Ryu foiled in late innings - Rowan Kavner ESPN Longoria, Crawford homer as Giants slip past Dodgers, 6-4

3 LOS ANGELES DODGERS DAILY CLIPS SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 2018 Turner excited to hit; Seager rests ailing hip By Ken Gurnick MLB.COM SAN FRANCISCO -- While All-Star third baseman Justin Turner moved a little closer to returning to the Dodgers infield Friday, All-Star shortstop Corey Seager was out of the lineup with a sore hip flexor. Turner hit off a tee for the first time since fracturing his left wrist nearly six weeks ago and was so excited he tweeted a video of it. Manager Dave Roberts said the hope is Turner will hit off live pitching in the next couple of days and be ready to begin a Minor League rehab assignment late next week. Turner is rehabbing at the club's Camelback Ranch-Glendale training complex and will work out with the Dodgers next week when they visit Arizona "He'll do his work at CBR, then join us at the ballpark," said Roberts. "If we can get him out [on a rehab], that would be great." The Dodgers have scrambled to fill the huge void in the lineup left after Turner was hit by a Kendall Graveman pitch in Spring Training. Kyle Farmer started at third base Friday night. Second baseman Logan Forsythe initially took over, but hurt his shoulder making the longer throw and he's on the disabled list. Enrique Hernandez and Max Muncy also have drawn starts at third base. Meanwhile, with the Dodgers facing lefty Derek Holland on Friday night, Seager was out of the lineup with continued discomfort from a right hip flexor he felt when going after a ball late in Wednesday night's game. Seager, who turned 24 on Friday, was not able to rebound even after a day off Thursday. But he and Roberts insisted the injury is relatively minor, and Seager tallied a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning of Friday's 6-4 loss. "There's still some soreness, so we'll give him another day and, hopefully, get him in there tomorrow," Roberts said before Friday's game. "Looking at the schedule, with 11 games in 10 days, it just made sense. He's available tonight in some capacity." "It's just a little tight in the front," said Seager. "I very easily could have played today, but another day is the right thing to do." Hernandez started at shortstop Friday night.

4 Kemp leaves early with tight left quad By Ken Gurnick SAN FRANCISCO -- Dodgers starting left fielder Matt Kemp was removed from Friday night's 6-4 loss to the Giants with left quad tightness in the fourth inning. Kemp said he's never had a quad injury, so he couldn't tell the severity. He said he first felt the tightness chasing a ball to the foul line in the bottom of the second inning. He led off the top of the fourth inning with a walk and ran slowly as he scored from first base on Yasmani Grandal's double to right-center. When he reached the dugout, Kemp spoke to manager Dave Roberts, who then pointed at the bench. When the inning was over, Kemp was replaced in left field by Joc Pederson. Kemp has been the Dodgers' most productive right-handed hitter, with four homers and 12 RBIs in 22 games. "This has never happened, so I don't know," Kemp said. "Just a little sore right now. I got treatment and tomorrow I'll see how I feel and go from there." Ryu gets it done on mound, at plate vs. Giants By Ken Gurnick SAN FRANCISCO -- Hyun-Jin Ryu struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings and doubled in two runs in Friday night's 6-4 loss to the Giants as the Dodgers opened their longest trip. Ryu left after taking a Buster Posey comebacker off the leg, but manager Dave Roberts said Ryu was fine and the removal was his baseball decision because the upcoming batter, Evan Longoria, homered off Ryu earlier in the game. Josh Fields was already warmed up in the bullpen and replaced Ryu, who had made 89 pitches. Ryu left with a 4-2 lead, putting him in position to improve his staff-leading record to 4-0, but the Giants surged ahead off the Dodgers' bullpen in the seventh. Ryu had allowed only one home run in his previous 23 2/3 innings, then in the bottom of the second inning he served up a pair to Longoria and Brandon Crawford. The Dodgers offense answered with RBI doubles by Yasmani Grandal, Yasiel Puig and Ryu, whose tworun hit ended a nine-pitch at-bat and chased Giants starter Derek Holland. Cingrani's 'dead arm,' Baez's balk sink Dodgers By Ken Gurnick SAN FRANCISCO -- The good thing about starting the longest trip of the year the way the Dodgers did Friday night is that there are still 10 games left to salvage it.

5 A 6-4 loss to the Giants had bad news all over the place. Left fielder Matt Kemp exited with a tight left quad. Setup reliever Tony Cingrani was charged with four runs in the decisive seventh inning when he lost his velocity, which manager Dave Roberts attributed to a "dead arm." Pedro Baez, who followed Cingrani, was charged with a balk that allowed the tying run to score when his foot got stuck in a muddy mound. "It's disjointed," Roberts said of his club's play. "You can talk about how hard guys are playing. But it definitely comes down to performance and execution, absolutely. This is enough of a sample and we're too good of a ballclub for things like that to happen. You've got to find ways to get wins." Despite a day off Thursday and the addition of a 26th man, Walker Buehler, to start the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, the Dodgers are further shorthanded with the injury to Kemp and perhaps another one to Cingrani. Roberts said he wanted to rest Adam Liberatore on Friday for the doubleheader, further limited Friday night's options. Of course, late-inning nightmares are nothing new to the Dodgers in San Francisco, as Terry Forster can attest. But the Giants' winning rally in the seventh was filled with unforced Dodgers mistakes. It began against Cingrani with a bunt single by Brandon Belt to defeat the defensive shift, and Belt was wildpitched to second on a throw that took a bite out of catcher Yasmani Grandal, who stayed in the game after an athletic trainer's visit. Belt was thrown out at third trying to advance on Austin Jackson's grounder to shortstop Enrique Hernandez, but Cingrani walked Brandon Crawford. During that at-bat, CIngrani shook his left arm after a pitch and soon Roberts and a busy trainer convened on the mound. "I felt really good about Tony in that spot," said Roberts. "Belt with bunt hit. After that, it seemed like it wasn't coming out. As the at-bats kept going on, the velocity seemed to dip a little bit. He worked behind the walk to Crawford. Sent the trainer out, he said he was fine. He just didn't have it tonight. His last pitch was 90 (3 miles an hour slower than earlier in the inning). Took him out of the game as precautionary, saw him in the trainer room, said he had sort of a dead arm and it wasn't coming out tonight." After a single by Gorkys Hernandez, Cingrani was allowed to face pinch-hitter Kelby Tomlinson, who doubled inside third base to tie the game at 4. Baez came on to face Joe Panik and, just before delivering a pitch, the shoe spike of his lead foot stuck when it grazed the mound and Baez came tumbling off it, the ball popping loose and rolling on the grass. When Baez picked it up, plate umpire Adrian Johnson called a balk and the go-ahead run scored. Panik's sacrifice fly provided the final run. "He said his arm felt fine, but the Tomlinson at-bat, I could tell something wasn't quite right," Roberts said of Cingrani, who had stints on the disabled list with shoulder issues in 2014 and 2015 for Cincinnati. "All the tests with the trainers, it's fine. But the ball wasn't coming out. Tomorrow he comes back as long as the strength is there, he plays catch and he'll be ready to go." This was the first in an 11-game, 10-day trip for the Dodgers that will end with three games in Monterrey, Mexico, against the Padres. MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

6 Hyun-Jin Ryu allowed only four hits, struck out seven and left after 5 2/3 innings in position to improve his record to 4-0. At one point he retired 13 of 14 batters and neither of the last two hits he allowed left the infield. And he doubled home half of the Dodgers' runs in a four-run fourth inning. SOUND SMART Kyle Farmer, who came into the game batting.214, went 3-for-4 and raised his average to.281. Farmer is 7-for-17 against the Giants in his career. YOU GOTTA SEE THIS Chris Taylor didn't get the best jump on the ball, but he still made a spectacular catch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and the bases loaded, sprinting in and diving to catch pinch-hitter Nick Hundley's popup in shallow center. The catch prevented at least two of the runners from scoring. UP NEXT To make up the rainout of April 6, the clubs will play a split doubleheader Saturday. In the 1:05 p.m. PT opener against Chris Stratton, the Dodgers will recall Buehler, who overcame occasional command issues to throw five scoreless innings against Miami in his first MLB start. In the 7:05 p.m. game against Johnny Cueto, Alex Wood will continue the search for the fastball velocity that made him so effective in the first half last year. LA TIMES Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner takes swings off tee for real this time By Andy McCullough This time, there's proof. When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts mistakenly accelerated the recovery of third baseman Justin Turner last week, Turner vowed to tell reporters as soon as he was medically cleared to take swings off a tee as he returns from a fractured wrist. Turner made good on his promise Friday morning, tweeting a video of himself swinging at Camelback Ranch. In the tweet he tagged several reporters who cover the team and country music star Brad Paisley. Turner is expected to meet the team Monday in Arizona. The next step in his progression would be taking live batting practice. Roberts suggested Turner could start a rehab assignment as early as next weekend. "If we can get him out some time next week, that would be great," Roberts said before Friday's series opener against the Giants. Turner has not played this season after getting drilled by a fastball from Oakland pitcher Kendall Graveman on March 19. His absence has had a sizable effect on the Dodgers' sluggish start. His initial replacement at third base, Logan Forsythe, is also on the disabled list with an injured shoulder. As a group, the Dodgers who have played third base this season had posted a.523 on-base-plus-slugging percentage the worst in the majors, heading into Friday's games.

7 Turner could fill that void before June arrives. "The progression should be quicker, now that he's swinging," Roberts said. "Hopefully he feels good tomorrow." After tweaking his hip late in Wednesday's loss to Miami, shortstop Corey Seager was held out of the lineup for Friday's series opener. Seager admitted he still felt tightness in the area, but said he could play. The Dodgers urged caution as they began a 10-day, 11-game trip. "I honestly don't know which muscle it is, it's just a little tight in the front," Seager said. "Nothing to worry about." Seager turned 24 on Friday. Buehler to start Saturday Walker Buehler, who is technically a member of the class-a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, played catch in the outfield at AT&T Park on Friday afternoon. Buehler was optioned to the minors this week, but the Dodgers never intended to let Buehler stray far. He will be activated as the 26th man for Saturday's doubleheader and pitch the day game. Buehler, the team's top pitching prospect, threw five scoreless innings in his first big league start Monday. He issued three walks, and expected more of himself in his second start. "It was good that without my best stuff I was able to put up some zeroes," Buehler said. "You take some confidence from it. Obviously, I'd like to be better than that." Short hops The Dodgers optioned right-handed relief pitcher Yimi Garcia to triple-a Oklahoma City. Garcia was already pitching with Oklahoma City on a rehab assignment. Garcia, who missed the entirety of 2017 after undergoing elbow ligament reconstruction, posted a 4.15 ERA in his five appearances on the assignment. Pedro Baez falls off the mound and Dodgers lose to Giants 6-4 By Andy McCullough In the dugout, a pained expression haunted the face of manager Dave Roberts. The moment did not defy belief, not if you've cataloged the ineptitude of this Dodgers team in this season's first month. But it came close: In the seventh inning of a 6-4 loss to San Francisco, Pedro Baez balked in a run by falling off the mound. Seriously. This happened. "That's a freak thing," Roberts said. "Very unexpected." To Baez's credit, he did not crumple to the ground. But he did drive in the go-ahead run when his cleats tripped across the dirt in the center of AT&T Park's diamond. His gaffe created a fitting visual for the

8 2018 Dodgers. In trying to recover from last November's agony, the Dodgers (11-13) have performed like a club uninterested in playing this October. They fell on Friday for the third game in a row. They squandered a quality outing from Hyun-Jin Ryu, who struck out seven in 52/3 innings and delivered a two-run double in the fourth inning. Roberts pulled Ryu after 89 pitches and watched his bullpen implode. Tony Cingrani and Baez combined to allow four runs in the seventh. The offense had no answer to the assorted gas cans in San Francisco's bullpen. Baez played a role in a Dodgers loss for the second time this week. He failed to protect a deadlock in a game against the Miami Marlins, a team assembled for the express purpose of losing. Baez was pitching for inexplicable reasons in that game, as Roberts chose him over Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning. Roberts had fewer options on Friday, as Cingrani melted down to blow a two-run lead. Cingrani looked uncomfortable and ineffective during his outing. He gave up a leadoff single, walked a batter, gave up an RBI single to outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, then ended his evening by allowing pinchhitter Kelby Tomlinson to hit a game-tying double. Along the way, Cingrani's fastball velocity dropped as he dealt with what Roberts called "dead arm." Into the fray stepped Baez. He was walking a tightrope. And he fell. Literally. "It seemed to be a little muddy," Baez said through his interpreter, Jesus Quinonez. "I went to go step and I got caught with the mud." The defeat hurt in areas beyond the standings. Matt Kemp exited the game after scoring a run in the fourth inning because of tightness in his left quadriceps. Kemp has been a crucial cog in the offense, batting.308 with a.906 on-base plus slugging percentage. He dealt with nagging hamstring issues last season in Atlanta. "I've had injuries before," Kemp said. "You don't want to make them worse." This trip will take the Dodgers to three cities and two countries. They will play four games against Arizona, the current leaders of the National League West. They will play three games against the Padres in Monterrey, Mexico. But first they must play four games in fewer than 72 hours in the Bay Area, including a doubleheader on Saturday. In his first four starts this season, Ryu permitted one home run. He surrendered two in Friday's second inning. San Francisco third baseman Evan Longoria powered a flat changeup over the center-field fence. Two batters later, shortstop Brandon Crawford crushed a hanging curveball for a second solo shot. The Dodgers broke through against Giants starter Derek Holland in the fourth inning. It was their only flurry of the game. Kemp led off with a walk. Grandal smashed a double into the right-center gap. Kemp scored from first. After a walk by Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig tied the score on a double that could have given the Dodgers the lead, had a fan not interfered. The umpires held up play as Bellinger rounded third. He was sent back to the bag. The Dodgers challenged the call, insisting Bellinger would have scored. A replay review upheld the initial call. Ryu protected the lead into the sixth. He exited after getting drilled in the leg with a grounder from Giants catcher Buster Posey. Roberts trusted his relievers to protect the lead. The group failed him.

9 "You can talk about how hard our guys are playing, but it definitely comes down to performance and execution," Roberts said. "This is enough of a sample. And we're too good of a ball club for things like that to happen." OC REGISTER Dodgers Justin Turner takes next step in recovery from wrist injury, hits off tee By Bill Plunkett SAN FRANCISCO It is a step forward of such significance it warranted a slow-motion video on Twitter. Justin Turner posted the 20-second video Friday morning showing himself hitting off a tee at the Dodgers training complex in Arizona. The tee work is Turner s first time contacting a baseball since he suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left wrist on March 19. Turner is expected to progress to taking batting practice in the next few days and could join the Dodgers for pre-game workouts at Chase Field during their four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks next week. That would be the final step before a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it is sort of a goal to have Turner start that rehab assignment late next week. I think the next thing is when we can get him on the field for batting practice against a live arm, Roberts said. And if he comes out of that okay, I would say the progression should be quicker now that he s swinging. Hopefully, he feels good tomorrow. I would hope sometime next week end of the week we could get him out on a rehab assignment. I think if we could get him out some time next week that would be great. Because he has been sidelined for so long and only began swinging a bat in the past few days, Turner s rehab assignment is likely to be at least five to seven games. Walker Buehler returns from Rancho Cucamonga (wink, wink) for second Dodgers start By Bill Plunkett SAN FRANCISCO Walker Buehler really did make it to Rancho Cucamonga. But he might have spent more time on the Southland s freeways than he did at LoanMart Field, home of the Class-A Quakes. After throwing five scoreless innings in his first major-league start Monday at Dodger Stadium, Buehler was officially optioned to the California League team. It was a procedural move. Buehler didn t actually join the Quakes, though he did throw a bullpen session there Thursday before taking his girlfriend to LAX and hustling to Dodger Stadium to catch the team bus back to the airport for their flight to San Francisco. Three-and-a-half hours on the freeways welcome to L.A., Buehler joked.

10 Buehler will be welcomed back to the Dodgers roster Saturday when he will be added most likely as the 26th man allowed for doubleheaders and start the first game against the San Francisco Giants. Not having my best stuff, I was still able to put up zeroes, Buehler said of his start Monday. You take some confidence from it. Obviously, I can do better than that. Buehler s issues Monday were not with the quality of his stuff his fastball averaged 97.7 mph but with his command. He needed 89 pitches to get through five innings and walked three. Yeah, I thought the ball was coming out of my hand well but the fastball command wasn t as good as it should be, he said. I don t think I got a swing-and-miss on my curveball. That usually means it s coming out of my hand too early. And I wasn t as good on 0-0 as I want to be. Nerves or excitement over the big-league assignment is the obvious explanation for any of those inefficiencies, Buehler acknowledged. But he said he didn t really feel much different for the starting assignment than he did as a September call-up pitching out of the bullpen last year. Not really. There was one new thing (starting), he said. And if you think about it, on the baseball calendar I was there just a month ago. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he didn t see any butterflies in Buehler s outing Monday. But he did see the high anxiety caused by facing a major-league lineup. I did see a little bit of if a pitch didn t go his way as far as a called strike or ball, it s more impactful on him. I think it affected him a little bit more than it might have in the minor leagues, Roberts said. He understands in the minor leagues he could probably overpower guys where he really understands here how important every pitch is. So when it doesn t go his way, there s a little bit of body language. You really want every pitch to go your way if it s close. But that just comes with pitching in the big leagues. Again, there s no lack of confidence for Walker. He s going to be just fine. SEAGER SITS Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was not in the starting lineup Friday, two days after injuring the hip flexor on his right side. Seager slipped while trying to field a pop-up in the ninth inning of Wednesday s loss to the Miami Marlins. Just not that fluid (moving), said Seager, who turned 24 on Friday. It s just a little tight in the front (of his hip) and a little sore but nothing to worry about. Seager said he could very easily have played Friday but the decision was made to give him a second day off (the Dodgers did not play Thursday) to make sure it doesn t go backwards. Roberts said he expects to have Seager back in the lineup for one if not both games of Saturday s daynight doubleheader. Looking at the schedule, with 11 games in the next 10 days, it just made sense (to give him Friday off), Roberts said. UP NEXT

11 Game 1 Dodgers RHP Walker Buehler (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at Giants RHP Chris Stratton (2-1, 2.32 ERA), Saturday, 1 p.m., SportsNet LA (where available) Game 2 Dodgers LHP Alex Wood (0-2, 3.72 ERA) at Giants RHP Johnny Cueto (2-0, 0.35 ERA), Saturday, 7 p.m., KTLA/5 and SportsNet LA (where available) Dodgers can t hold two-run lead, lose series opener to Giants By Bill Plunkett SAN FRANCISCO The Dodgers should probably consider switching to Verizon. Dave Roberts definitely needed a new plan Friday night. The Dodgers took a two-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning Friday night thanks primarily to Hyun-Jin Ryu but bungled it away and lost to the San Francisco Giants 6-4. The Dodgers have now lost 23 of their last 33 games at AT&T Park, often in similarly unsettling ways. Clayton Kershaw has started seven of the 10 victories in that stretch. He is not scheduled to pitch in this four-game series. Even more recently, the Dodgers have stumbled through this week looking nothing like a 100-win team or the defending National League champions. While losing two of three to the lowly Miami Marlins and now the opener in San Francisco, the bullpen upon which they rely so heavily has given up 12 runs in 13-1/3 innings and twice committed costly balks. Toss in a three-error game during which shortstop Corey Seager suffered a slip-and-fall injury while chasing a pop-up. Friday s pratfall highlight came during the Giants decisive four-run seventh inning when reliever Pedro Baez stumbled off the mound, releasing the ball into the grass of the infield. That balk brought the goahead run in from third. It s disjointed, Roberts said of his team s performance over the season s first four weeks. I think, yeah, you can talk about how hard our guys are playing. But it definitely comes down to performance and execution, absolutely. And this is enough of a sample and we re too good of a ballclub for things like that to happen. Tonight with the balk, that s a freak thing, very unexpected. But there s a point where you ve still got to find ways to get wins. Ryu tried to point the way. He drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-run double in the fourth inning and handed a 4-2 lead over to the bullpen in the sixth. The left-hander started the season with a strong run, striking out 15 of the first 29 batters he faced. But a balk call ruined his night Tuesday and Cingrani was off from the start against the Giants. Brandon Belt dropped a bunt against the shift to start the inning. After a wild pitch moved him to second, Kike Hernandez made an excellent play cutting down the lead runner on a grounder to shortstop.

12 By the time Cingrani walked Brandon Crawford to put two runners on he had lost 2-3 mph off his fastball (which had been averaging 93.5 mph this season). Roberts and a trainer came out to check on Cingrani who told them he was fine. But Roberts had no one warming up (in the bullpen, at least) even as right-handed Gorkys Hernandez came up against Cingrani. Hernandez singled in one run and Roberts stuck with Cingrani, preferring to have him face the switch-hitting Pablo Sandoval right-handed or the left-handed Gregor Blanco if the Giants went to their bench. Instead, pinch-hitter Kelby Tomlinson another right-handed batter tied the score with a double off Cingrani before Baez (who had been throwing in the batting cage under the stands) finally made it out to the bullpen and entered the game. I felt really good about Tony in that spot, Roberts said. As the at-bats kept going on, the velocity seemed to dip a little bit and he was working from behind. I had the trainer go out and he said he was fine. He just didn t have it tonight. His last pitch I think was 90. He said he had sort of a dead arm and it just wasn t coming out tonight. When Roberts finally went to Baez it was to face Joe Panik a left-handed hitter who has hit much better against right-handed pitching this season than lefties (8 for 44). The Dodgers had two lefthanded relievers (Adam Liberatore and Scott Alexander) available, but neither warmed up. Roberts explained the decision by saying Alexander is not your typical lefty in terms of splits against left-handed batters and he was trying to stay away from Liberatore, who pitched in two of the three games against the Marlins and warmed up three times in the other one. At that point in time, it s one hitter to get out of the inning and Petey, when he s throwing the ball right, he gets righties and lefties out, Roberts said. That s just the case. He s done it his entire career. The Dodgers actually needed two outs to get out of the inning at that point. It didn t matter. Panik turned out to be the least of Baez s problems. Instead, Baez balked the winning run in from third base when he stumbled as he planted his front foot on the mound. Two pitches later, Panik padded the Giants lead with a sacrifice fly. The Dodgers had no response. They packed all their scoring into the fourth inning an inning that also saw Matt Kemp leave the game with tightness in his left quadriceps muscle and went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position as five Giants relievers combined to hold them scoreless over the final 5-2/3 innings. Matt Kemp exits with left quad tightness By Eric Stephen TRUE BLUE LA Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp left Friday s game against the Giants in the fourth inning after experiencing left quad tightness while running the bases, per Alanna Rizzo on SportsNet LA.

13 Kemp walked to open the fourth inning and scored from first base on a double by Yasmani Grandal. After scoring, Kemp looked frustrated while talking to trainers in the dugout, then went into the clubhouse as shown on the television broadcast. Joc Pederson replaced Kemp in left field in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kemp has had a resurgent start to his second turn with the Dodgers, hitting.308/.352/.554 with four home runs and four doubles in 22 games. He dropped over 40 pounds in the offseason and earlier this week was shown by Statcast data to have the largest improvement in sprint speed from 2017 to Dodgers unravel in opening loss to Giants By Eric Stephen The Dodgers squandered a strong performance by Hyun-jin Ryu, and a night filled with nicks, pulls and far too many trainer visits was decided in part thanks to a trip. The Giants rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to capture the series opener 6-4 on Friday at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The seventh inning began with a two-run Dodgers advantage and on the mound was left-hander Tony Cingrani, who was dominant to start this season with 17 strikeouts in 34 batters faced, and no walks. A bunt single by Brandon Belt was followed by a one-out walk to Brandon Crawford, putting the tying runs on base. After the walk to Crawford, Cingrani was shaking his left arm and trainer Nate Lucero and manager Dave Roberts came to the mound. After a brief visit he was allowed to continue. Gorkys Hernandez singled to drive home one run, then Kelby Tomlinson doubled to tie the game at 4-4, ending Cingrani s night. We don t know exactly what went wrong with Cingrani, but here are the numbers on his four-seam fastball this season: Before Friday (110 pitches): 94.3 mph average, per Brooks Baseball First 3 batters Friday (before mound visit, 14 pitches): 92.9 mph, per MLB Gameday Final 2 batters Friday (after mound visit, 5 pitches): 91.1 mph, per Gameday Pedro Baez entered in a tie game, with the go-ahead runs in scoring position and one out. Already this was a precarious position, but Baez exacerbated it just two pitches in. It spoiled a fantastic outing by Ryu, who struck out seven and walked none on his night. He has 32 strikeouts and four walks in his last four starts, including seven or more strikeouts in four consecutive starts for the first time in his career. Ryu did allow a pair of solo home runs in the second inning, with Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford taking Ryu deep, one more home run that Ryu allowed in his first four starts of the season. But that was it.

14 The Dodgers grabbed the lead in the fourth inning, though not with home runs. They hit three doubles in the inning, the first by Yasmani Grandal to score Matt Kemp, who left the game afterward after suffering left quad tightness while scoring from first base. Yasiel Puig doubled home the equalizer then with one out Ryu doubled home two runs of his own to give the Dodgers the lead, his first RBI since That proved to be the only scoring inning for the Dodgers despite eight hits and seven walks on the night. They were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Ryu pitched 5⅔ innings and allowed just the two runs. He might have lasted even longer, at just 89 pitches, but Ryu took a comebacker off the back of his leg off the bat of Buster Posey, so even Ryu couldn t escape this night unscathed. Grandal, whose seventh double and 19th RBI of the season padded his team leads, took a foul ball off his left hand in the seventh and was also looked at by Lucero, but stayed in the game. It was a rough night all around for the Dodgers. Up next The Dodgers and Giants are at it again for two games on Saturday with a split doubleheader. Walker Buehler starts the 1:05 p.m. PT game for the Dodgers, facing Chris Stratton, while Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto face off in the 7:05 p.m. game. SportsNet LA will televise both Saturday games, with KTLA simulcasting the nightcap. Friday particulars Home runs: Evan Longoria (5), Brandon Crawford (2) WP - Sam Dyson (1-0): 1 IP, 1 walk LP - Tony Cingrani (0-4): ⅓ IP, 3 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk Sv - Hunter Strickland (6): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts Quakes win 14-9, Lux homers and drives in 5 By Craig Minami Oklahoma City continued their unbeaten record at home, Tulsa swept their double-header and Rancho Cucamonga scored two touchdowns with extra points in a offensive show in Lancaster. Only Great Lakes took a loss on Friday. Player of the day Gavin Lux appears to be getting comfortable at Rancho Cucamonga, he s hitting.286 for the season and on Friday he hit his first home run of the season in the Quakes big win.

15 Lux went 3-for-5 with a double to go with his home run. Lux also drove in five runs. Lux did make two errors, giving him five so far. After playing both second and shortstop at Great Lakes in 2017, Lux has played primarily at shortstop in Triple-A Oklahoma City The Dodgers scored in only one inning but it was enough to win 4-1 over the Iowa Cubs. The win meant the Dodgers are now 10-0 at home and 15-4 overall. Travis Taijeron was the offensive star as his triple scored two runs for the Dodgers in the fourth inning. Jake Peter singled in Taijeron and Peter would later score on a base hit from pitcher Tyler Pill. Pill started for the Dodgers and pitched four scoreless innings. Brian Moran got the win as he went 1⅔ innings and gave it no runs and one hit. Yimi Garcia gave the sole run in 1⅓ innings, Garcia also struck out three. Double-A Tulsa The Drillers won a pair of one-run games to sweep their doubleheader against NW Arkansas Naturals (Royals). The Drillers won the first game 6-5 when Errol Robinson hit a walk-off single and then in the second, the Drillers hit two sacrifice flies and they won 2-1. After leading 5-3 going to the sixth inning, the Drillers gave up two runs to the Naturals and the game remain tied going to the seventh. With two outs and two on, Mike Ahmed got an infield single to load the bases. Robinson then came up and drilled a line drive to left center that won the game. In the second game, the Drillers loaded the bases won none out in the fifth inning. Drew Jackson drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly. After another infield hit from Ahmed, Robinson drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly. Shea Spitzbarth would pick up the save in the second game by recording the last four outs by strikeout. Class-A Rancho Cucamonga The Quakes had 16 hits and got seven walks in their 14-9 win against the Lancaster JetHawks (Rockies). Every Quakes starter got at least one hit in the win. Gavin Lux and Hamlet Marte had three hits, Omar Estevez, Donovan Casey and Logan Landon each had two hits. Lux, Rylan Bannon and Cristian Santana also homered. One other note you don t usually see in a nine-inning game, the Quakes struck out 17 times, one more than total hits. That meant the Quakes were 13-for-21 in balls in play. Class-A Great Lakes The Loons scored two runs in the ninth but that wasn t enough as they lost 5-2 to the South Bend Cubs. The Cubs got solid pitching from Javier Assad who won his third game of the season. Tyler Thomas pitched four innings for the save, striking out seven while giving up five hits and two runs. Melvin Jimenez started for the Loons and took the loss. He gave up two runs, three hits and walked three. Three errors, one from Marcus Chiu and two from Carlos Rincon also hurt the Loons.

16 The Loons rallied with two outs in the ninth, Rincon and Jared Walker doubled, Chiu singled Walker home and then Gersel Pitre singled to bring the tying run up to plate. But then the rally ended as Brayan Morales struck out looking. Transactions Class-AA: Tulsa placed infielder Connor Joe on the 7-day disabled list. Friday s scores Oklahoma City 4, Iowa 1 Tulsa 6, NW Arkansas 5 Tulsa 2, NW Arkansas 1 Rancho Cucamonga 14, Lancaster 9 South Bend 5, Great Lakes 2 Saturday s schedule 4:05 p.m. PT: Tulsa (Dennis Santana) at NW Arkansas (Foster Griffin) 4:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (TBD) at South Bend (Brandon Little) 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Guillermo Moscoso) vs. Iowa (Michael Roth) 6:05 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Jordan Sheffield) at Lancaster (Logan Longwith) DODGER INSIDER Five Takeaways: Potential win for Ryu foiled in late innings By Rowan Kavner The Dodgers don t have much time to dwell on what could ve been, as a doubleheader follows Saturday after watching a lead slip away in the late innings Friday night. Here are five takeaways from the 6 4 loss to start the series in San Francisco: 1) Ryu deals again Hyun-Jin Ryu entered having allowed just two runs in 19 innings over his last three starts. He also had only allowed one home run all season before the Giants hit two solo home runs in the second inning, but those homers from Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt were the only damage done to Ryu in 5 2/3 innings. Ryu didn t walk anyone and struck out seven the fourth straight game he s recorded at least seven strikeouts. 2) Then he helps himself at the plate It was Ryu s bat that allowed him to leave with the lead. Trailing 2 0, the Dodgers hit three RBI doubles in a four-run fourth inning. The first two came off the bats of

17 Yasmani Grandal and Yasiel Puig, and the third was a go-ahead, two-run double from Ryu his first RBI hit since ) Kemp dealing with quad tightness The box score will show a productive fourth inning, though it was not without a drawback. Matt Kemp started to feel his left quad tighten trying to chase down a fly ball early in the night, and he left the game after scoring from first base on Grandal s double in the fourth. Roberts didn t have an update after the game, but the Dodgers decided not to put him in harm s way. Kemp, who has a.906 OPS to start the year, said he s never dealt with this type of issue before. It s just a little sore right now, Kemp said. We did a little treatment on it Wake up tomorrow, see how I feel and go from there. 4) Cingrani s dead arm shortens outing Tony Cingrani allowed a bunt single and got a fielder s choice to start the seventh inning when things started to turn south. After that, it just seemed like it wasn t coming out, Roberts said. As the at-bats kept going on, the velocity seemed to dip a little bit. The Dodgers brought a trainer out to check on Cingrani, who was eventually taken out for precautionary reasons, but not before two runs had come across to tie the game. Roberts said Cingrani was dealing with dead arm and will be checked on again. The Giants go-ahead run scored on a balk from Pedro Baez, when his cleat got caught as he made his motion toward the plate on a pitch. A sacrifice fly made it a four-run seventh inning for the Giants, responding to the Dodgers four-run inning earlier in the night. 5) Seager returns for late 24th birthday at-bat The Dodgers best opportunity to overcome the second two-run deficit of the night came in the eighth, started off by a single from Kyle Farmer and followed by a pinch-hit single from Corey Seager on his 24th birthday. Roberts said before the game Seager was dealing with a hip flexor issue, and the Dodgers played it safe keeping him out of the starting lineup. But Roberts said Seager would be available, and he came through against former teammate Tony Watson. The Dodgers couldn t plate a run in the inning, however, as two flyouts followed. The doubleheader Saturday begins with Walker Buehler on the mound looking to snap the Dodger s three-game losing skid. His last start Monday was the Dodgers last win. Alex Wood will start the night game. ESPN Longoria, Crawford homer as Giants slip past Dodgers, 6-4 SAN FRANCISCO -- A little bit of luck helped the San Francisco Giants slip past the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gorkys Hernandez scored the go-ahead run on a balk as the Giants beat the Dodgers 6-4 on Friday night. The Giants rallied from a 4-2 deficit, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Dodgers were 10-1 when leading after the sixth going into Friday.

18 Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford homered for the Giants. Hernandez scored the go-ahead run when Dodgers reliver Pedro Baez slipped at the end of his delivery, firing the ball into the grass near the pitcher's mound during Joe Panik's at-bat. "It happens occasionally," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, "You take it though. That's a big run there. You don't you see it very often, but it happens." Said Hernandez: "It's crazy." Hernandez and pinch-hitter Kelby Tomlinson had consecutive run-scoring singles with one out in the seventh off Tony Cingrani (0-1). "He tried to make a pitch and tripped," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "The ball fell out of his hands and stayed in play. It's a freak thing." Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings of four-hit ball in which he struck out seven and walked none. The South Korean left-hander was in line for his fourth straight win when he left the game with a 4-2 lead. Giants starter Derek Holland gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings. He's winless through five starts with his new team. Sam Dyson (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh for the Giants. The bullpen combined for 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball. "The bullpen," Bochy said. "That's who saved us and gave us a chance to win." Ryu gave up solo home runs to Longoria (his fifth) and Crawford (his second). Dodgers third baseman Kyle Farmer had a career-high three hits. Hunter Strickland pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save. He struck out Yasmani Grandal looking for the last out to the chants of "Beat L.A." SOCIAL SKIPPER Giants manager Bruce Bochy entered the social media circuit this week, communicating for the first time on a Twitter account he opened in November of last year. As of Friday evening, (at)brucebochy1 had tweeted four times and had nearly 18,000 followers. "I'm not going to use it lot, trust me," Bochy said, "but it can be a good source as far as getting info out there, and maybe hearing some." TRAINER'S ROOM Dodgers: OF Matt Kemp left Friday's game in the middle of the fourth inning with left quad tightness. Kemp scored from first on a Yasmani Grandal's double to right center in the top of the fourth. Roberts after the game had no update on Kemp's condition.... SS Corey Seager was out of Friday's starting lineup with right hip soreness. Manager Dave Roberts said the injury isn't believed to be serious. He left open the possibility that Seager could play in either or both games of Saturday's doubleheader.. 3B Justin Turner (left wrist fracture) is ramping up baseball activities. He took dry swings on Friday and could play rehab games in the minors next week, Roberts said.

19 Giants: OF Mac Williamson went through concussion protocol on Friday and has been cleared to play. The 27-year-old crashed into a wall chasing a foul ball on Tuesday and reported lightheadedness during pregame workouts the next day.. RHP Mark Melancon (right elbow flexor strain) threw from about 60 feet on flat ground for a second straight day on Friday.. LHP Josh Osich (right hip strain) was placed on the DL. OF Austin Slater was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento before Friday's game and optioned back afterwards to make room for RHP Chris Stratton, who came off the paternity list and pitch in Saturday's doubleheader.. RHP Derek Law was designated the team's 26th player for Saturday's doubleheader. UP NEXT LHP Walker Buehler (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second career start for the Dodgers in the first game of Saturday's day-night doubleheader in San Francisco. He'll face Stratton (2-1, 2.32). LHP Alex Wood (0-2, 3.72) will pitch the second game for Los Angeles against RHP Johnny Cueto (2-0, 0.35).