What we learned from the Giants’ late comeback marred by loss to the Dodgers originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
LOS ANGELES — The Giants knew that at some point during the 2024 season, they would cut Nick Ahmed to make room for a young shortstop.
But that? This they would never have expected.
The day after he left the couch in Arizona to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ahmed fired a solo shot to left center off former teammate Tyler Rogers, giving the Dodgers the lead in the eighth inning. Shohei Ohtani followed with his 30th and the Dodgers escaped with a 6-4 victory in the final regular season meeting between the rivals.
The Giants went 2-for-5 on a crucial drive to open the second half. With just four games remaining until the trade deadline, they are again six games under .500.
The teams combined to leave 18 runners on base in the first seven innings, and both squandered golden opportunities. Tyler Fitzgerald tied the game in the third on a triple and drove in a go-ahead single, but the Giants would follow up a four-game hitting streak with a three-game hitting streak.
The Dodgers retook the lead and had a chance to open the game in the sixth after getting three straight singles from reliever Sean Hjelle. But rookie Andy Pages turned a double play, keeping the lead at two runs.
Michael Conforto rallied with an RBI double with two outs in the eighth and Jorge Soler tied it with a two-hit single to left that put him on base for the fourth time.
That run only set the stage for Ahmed, who had just one home run in 155 at-bats with the Giants.
still searching
Logan Webb’s late first-half start was one of the worst of his career, and he gave up four runs Saturday at Coors Field. In the meantime, he had a rough All-Star Game debut.
The team’s ace has been looking for form for a few weeks now and the Dodgers have taken advantage. They put four runs on Webb’s line and collected nine hits, repeatedly driving him the other way. In two starts at Dodger Stadium this season, Webb gave up nine runs and 16 hits in 8 2/3 innings.
The damage could have been much worse on Thursday, but Webb gave in twice with an All-Star at the plate. With runners on the corners and a run already in the second, Ohtani hit a sinker back to the mound. Two innings later, the Dodgers loaded the bases for Freddie Freeman, but he struck out two and came up.
Hello old friend
Clayton Kershaw was making his 60th appearance against the Giants, and although his fastball had reached the 80s in his mid-thirties, he still showed much of his old form through four innings. He threw his slider on 44 percent of his pitches, getting nine hits and several huge strikeouts.
Kershaw’s best run came in the third after the Giants scored a couple of runs. With two scored, he struck out Patrick Bailey and Thairo Estrada on sharp sliders and made David Villar look at the same big curveball he’s been throwing for 17 years.
In those 60 appearances – 58 of which have been starts – Kershaw has a 2.04 ERA against the Giants. The next time he faces them, if there is a next time, he will likely surpass the 400 inning mark in rivalry games.
The new guys
There were some new faces in Thursday’s lineup. Derek Hill made his first start after being claimed off waivers and Villar returned from Triple-A to replace Wilmer Flores, who will receive a PRP injection in his sore right knee.
Hill started in left field and flew out on the first pitch he saw from Kershaw. He later appeared and Conforto hit that spot the next time he appeared.
Villar struck out his first three at-bats before delivering a 3-2 pitch into the corner for a leadoff double in the eighth. He expects to see plenty of playing time in the coming weeks, as the Giants anticipate this will be a longer absence for Flores than the last.
