The San Francisco Giants on Friday clinched at least a share of their first National League West title since 2012 by matching a franchise record with their 106th win, beating the San Diego Padres 3-0 before turning their attention to the Dodgers’ game against Milwaukee.
Darin Ruf hit a first-inning home run, while Mike Yastrzemski added an RBI single to send San Francisco on their way, and then the Giants waited on Los Angeles’ result against NL Central champions the Brewers.
However, Los Angeles extended the NL West race for at least another day, rallying past the Milwaukee Brewers 8-6.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pinch-hitter Matt Beaty launched a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning to help the defending World Series champions maintain their increasingly slim bid for a ninth consecutive division title with their 104th win.
The first-placed Giants saw their magic number fall to one on the Dodgers’ result. The Giants lead Los Angeles by two games.
San Francisco went through a quick congratulatory handshake line on the diamond after their game.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Then, the big screen scoreboard started airing the Brewers-Dodgers game and fans were invited to stay put.
In San Francisco, LaMonte Wade Jr added a sacrifice fly as the Giants (106-54) continued to leave their mark in the franchise’s storied history.
They were hardly fancied to win in the talented West, with the Dodgers and the Padres considered the favorites.
Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY
After going 29-31 last season in Gabe Kapler’s first year as manager to becoming contenders again at last, the group delivered a stunning turnaround.
The Giants navigated through injuries to many key players for long stretches. Brandon Belt, sidelined now by a fractured left thumb, hit 29 home runs, and shone alongside fellow World Series veterans Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey.
Now, they believe they are poised for another deep October run like those champion Giants teams of 2010, 2012 and 2014.
Photo: AFP
Posey played in his fourth straight game behind the plate, to which Kapler said: “Buster wants to be in there every day at this point.”
The bullpen delivered again, and newcomers like Wade consistently came through.
Anthony DeSclafani (13-7) struck out three and did not walk a batter, allowing four hits over five scoreless innings. The right-hander won for just the second time in eight starts since Aug. 13.
Camilo Doval, the fourth Giants reliever, finished for his third save.
Fernando Tatis Jr was thrown out at home to end the sixth and San Diego couldn’t capitalize on nine hits for Pedro Avila (0-1) in his second major league appearance and first since 2019.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers still have something to play for, although they might be doing it without Clayton Kershaw, who exited his start with left forearm discomfort in the second inning after 42 pitches.
It is the same injury that kept him on the injured list from July 4 to Sept. 12.
“It’s a tough blow,” Kershaw said. “Just felt something there in my elbow, I don’t know what it is. Kind of the same thing I’ve been dealing with. It got bad enough to where I couldn’t keep going.”
Kershaw allowed three runs and two hits in 1-2/3 innings of his final regular-season start.
The left-hander struck out one and walked none.
He is 10-8 with a 3.38 ERA, his highest mark since a 4.26 ERA as a rookie in 2008.
“Chances are, it’s not looking good for October right now,” he said. “I know we’re going to do something special this year and I wanted to be part of that.”
Blake Treinen (6-5) got the win in relief, giving up one hit.
Kenley Jansen got four outs to earn his 38th save, the eighth pitcher used by the Dodgers.
Pinch-hitter Matt Beaty went deep against Jandel Gustave for a 6-5 lead.
It was the Dodgers’ 14th homer in their past three games.
The Dodgers added two more runs in the seventh inning.
Gustave (1-2) hit Mookie Betts and Corey Seager singled.
They moved up on Gustave’s wild pitch and Trea Turner was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Betts scored on Gustave’s second wild pitch that moved up Turner and Seager, who scored on Max Muncy’s infield single that made it 8-5.
Turner’s fourth career grand slam came off Eric Lauer and tied it at 5-5 in the fifth inning.
Austin Barnes, pinch-hitter Albert Pujols and Betts singled to load the bases.
Turner hit his 27th homer — ninth with the Dodgers — to left-center with two outs.
Turner’s solo shot in the first inning landed in the lower right-field seats with two outs, extending his hitting streak to 17 games.
His five RBIs were a season high.
“Trea got me a little bit. He took some good swings,” Lauer said. “The first one was exactly where I wanted to throw it and he just got to it. The changeup was obviously the worst pitch I threw.”
In Seattle, the Mariners need help from other teams to see their 20-year post-season drought end after they lost 2-1 to the Los Angeles Angels.
Seattle dropped into a tie with the Toronto Blue Jays, both of them one game behind the Boston Red Sox — who beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 — in the race for the second wild card in the American League.
The Mariners had won 10 of their past 11 and started the day knowing that a sweep of the Angels would at the very least force a tiebreaker game tomorrow.
In Toronto, Steven Matz pitched seven solid innings to win his fifth straight decision, while Danny Jansen homered and drove in three runs as the Blue Jays kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-4.
The New York Yankees — who lost to the Tampa Bay Rays 3-4 — still occupy the first wild-card slot, one game ahead of the Red Sox.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Astros 6, Athletics 8
‧ Braves 3, Mets 4
‧ Cardinals 4, Cubs 3
‧ Diamondbacks 7, Rockies 9
‧ Marlins 0, Phillies 5
‧ Pirates 9, Reds 2
‧ Rangers 6, Indians 9
‧ Royals 11, Twins 6
‧ White Sox, 8, Tigers 1
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
RSS