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Mike Yastrzemski's blast lifts SF Giants to 5-1 victory over Dodgers

A Mike Yastrzemski homer and quality start from Sean Manaea led the SF Giants to a victory over Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Marc Delucchi

Mike Yastrzemski's blast lifts SF Giants to 5-1 victory over Dodgers
Mike Yastrzemski's blast lifts SF Giants to 5-1 victory over Dodgers /
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The SF Giants ended a three-game losing streak on Friday night with a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the Giants have not officially been eliminated from the playoffs, the team is primarily playing for pride at this point in the season. Facing off against the franchise's biggest rival, they pulled out a win and improved to 77-77 on the season. They remain only three games back of the final National League Wild Card, but would need to catch three teams in the standings to reach the postseason.

SF Giants pitcher Sean Manaea (52) throws in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on September 22, 2023.
SF Giants starter Sean Manaea pitches against the Dodgers on September 22, 2023 / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Veteran Giants lefty Sean Manaea, who recently returned to the rotation, continued his impressive stretch to finish the season. He shutout the Dodgers across seven innings of work and laid the ground work for the win. Manaea's velocity topped out at 96.6 mph early, but he held Los Angeles' offense in check by inducing a lot of soft contact with some help from his defense.

It's no secret that the Giants defense has struggled recently, with 10 errors across their previous five games. However, they held up well on Friday night, especially behind Manaea. Manaea only struck out two batters, but allowed just three singles and zero walks.

Dodgers opener Caleb Ferguson and rookie righty Gavin Stone no-hit the Giants for three innings. However, manager Gabe Kapler deployed Joc Pederson as a pinch-hitter for Austin Slater to lead off the fourth inning. Pederson led off the frame with a double to put himself in scoring position.

Stone retired the next two hitters, but outfielder Mike Yastrzemski sat on an 0-1 breaking ball and sent it high and deep into the right-field bleachers for a two-run home run. Yastrzemski's 15th home run gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead, and they never looked back. After a costly mental error on Thursday, Yastrzemski was surely happy to get back on the right side of things.

Thairo Estrada added to the Giants lead with a solo home run against Stone in the top of the sixth inning. Stone made a mistake with a 1-1 slider and Estrada blasted the hanger over the left-center field wall for his 13th home run of the season.

Kapler turned to Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the eighth, but the Dodgers were finally able to get on the scoreboard against the Giants submariner. Rogers quickly recorded two outs and struck out Jason Heyward after allowing just one single, but catcher Patrick Bailey whiffed on the pitch, which allowed Heyward to reach base and extend the inning.

With two runners on, Rogers walked Mookie Betts and surrendered an RBI single to Freddie Freeman before he was pulled for closer Camilo Doval. Doval has had his struggles recently, but succesfully stopped the bleeding and went on to record the four-out save. It was his 38th save of the season.

As for the Giants recent call ups, Marco Luciano (Giants Top 4 Prospect) went 2-for-4 and recorded his first-career MLB stolen base. Tyler Fitzgerald (Giants Top 13 Prospect) only had one hit, but it was his first-career MLB home run. After Luciano kept the top of the ninth alive with a two-out single against Ryan Yarbrough, Fitzgerald lined a two-run homer down the left-field line. Fitzgerald also looked comfortable in center field.

The Giants got significant contributions from one of their offseason acquisitions, two veteran team leaders, and two rookies. That was the recipe that could have had the makings of a playoff team. It may not be this season, but the front office hopes it's a sign of things to come in 2024.

Following one of their best all-around performances in weeks, the SF Giants will look to keep the positive momentum going this weekend against the Dodgers. They have not yet announced a starter for Saturday's game, but whoever gets the nod will face Clayton Kershaw. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM Pacific.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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