Dodgers' offense stalls, defense collapses
· Yahoo Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — The margin for error against a rival like the San Francisco Giants is always thin. On Tuesday night at Oracle Park, the Dodgers learned just how unforgiving it can be.
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A game that ultimately settled into a pitchers’ duel was decided almost immediately, undone by one chaotic, mistake-filled first inning that proved too much to overcome in a 3–1 loss.
It began innocently enough, or at least as innocently as things can begin when everything starts to unravel. Yoshinobu Yamamoto couldn’t escape the opening inning cleanly. A throwing error by Hyeseong Kim put the leadoff man aboard. A single followed. Then a walk. Suddenly, the bases were loaded with no outs, and the inning was teetering.
The Giants didn’t need to do anything extraordinary, just enough. An RBI single. A sacrifice fly that turned awkward when Alex Call and Teoscar Hernández collided in the outfield, the ball somehow still caught but another run scoring. Then another RBI single. Just like that, it was 3–0.
That was all the Giants would get. It was also all they would need.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) throws against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park.D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) throws against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at Oracle Park.
Because from the second inning on, Yamamoto looked like a different pitcher entirely, composed, dominant, and, in many ways, brilliant. He retired 19 of 22 hitters after the first, leaned on his full arsenal, and finished his night in emphatic fashion by striking out the side in the seventh, all looking. Seven innings, three runs, seven strikeouts, a line that reads far better than the way it began.
His ERA now sits at 2.48, and if anything, this outing reinforced a growing reality: even when Yamamoto doesn’t have his best command early, he has the ability to adjust and take over a game. The problem Tuesday was that the damage was already done.
The offense never caught up.
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp (65) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Oracle Park.D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp (65) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Oracle Park.
Against Giants starter Landen Roupp, the Dodgers showed patience but not enough impact. They worked counts, drew walks, four in the fourth inning, and managed to push across a run when Kim forced a bases-loaded walk. It felt, briefly, like the kind of inning that could flip a game.
Instead, it ended with a thud: a double-play grounder off the bat of Call that erased the threat and, effectively, the Dodgers’ best chance.
Shohei Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 53 games with an infield single, tying Shawn Green for the second-longest streak in franchise history. Tanner Scott added another scoreless inning in relief, continuing his early-season dominance.
But none of it changed the outcome.
The Dodgers fell to 16–7, a record that still reflects a strong start but also hints at something else, that even a team with this much talent can be tripped up by a single inning where nothing goes right.
They’ll turn the page quickly. Ohtani is scheduled to take the mound Wednesday while also serving as designated hitter, another reminder of the kind of talent the Dodgers can deploy to shift momentum back in their favor.