Dodgers can’t overcome sloppy start in loss to Giants

SAN FRANCISCO — Like a golfer shanking one off the first tee box, the Dodgers needed an early do-over.

But defensive mistakes left them in the woods, helping to fuel a three-run first inning for the San Francisco Giants against Yoshinobu Yamamoto that stood up as the difference in a 3-1 Dodgers defeat on a soggy Tuesday night at Oracle Park.

“I think today’s game was about the first inning,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “I wanted to minimize the damage but I was not able to do that.”

After scoring 12 runs in Monday’s win at Coors Field, the Dodgers managed just three hits in the series opener against the Giants and have now lost three of four games – a momentary lull that has allowed the San Diego Padres (winners of nine of their past 10) to tie the Dodgers at the top of the National League West standings. That was enough to prompt one post-game question about “gut checks” and Dave Roberts’ level of concern about the Padres’ surge – surely setting a major-league record for earliest in the season that has been leveled at a manager outside of New York.

“I don’t think anyone’s too concerned about the Padres and what they’re doing. And as far as gut check … I think it’s still early,” said Roberts, too good-natured – and media savvy – to treat the question the way it deserved.

“I just don’t think we really concern ourselves with anyone, to be quite honest. And that’s the way we should think about things. It’s no disrespect to any team. It’s just that we’ve got to kind of keep our closet clean and play good baseball and it will take care of itself.”

Their closet was pretty messy in the first inning Tuesday.

The decisive inning started when fans were still drying off their seats from a pregame rain shower. Willy Adames led off the bottom of the first with a 104.6 mph rocket to the right of shortstop Hyeseong Kim. Kim flagged it down on one hop but his throw sailed over first base and into the Dodgers’ dugout, putting Adames on second base.

Yamamoto couldn’t absorb the misfortune. He gave up a single to Luis Arraez, walked Matt Chapman and then gave up another single to Rafael Devers, bringing a run in.

Casey Schmitt lofted a fly ball into shallow left-center. Alex Call was playing center field for Andy Pages (getting his first day off this season) and came charging in, crashing into left fielder Teoscar Hernandez as he caught the ball. Arraez tagged up and scored on the play.

Jung Hoo Lee made it a three-run first inning for the Giants with an RBI single.

“I thought early on he wasn’t sharp,” Roberts said. “The curveball, I thought the execution wasn’t really good. We could have probably made a couple plays behind him, but for him to manage the pitch count, give up three runs and then go seven innings and give us a chance to win the game, says a lot about him.”

Yamamoto did settle down after the rough start. He retired the next 10 batters in order and didn’t give up another hit until the sixth inning. He escaped more damage in the sixth when Lee tried to score from first base on Ramos’ two-out single to center field. It was a bad idea. The relay from Call to Alex Freeland easily beat him home.

After the first four batters he faced all reached base, Yamamoto still went seven innings, allowing just two more hits.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, never got started offensively.

Giants starter Landen Roupp gave up a single and a walk in the first three innings while striking out five. He did lose touch with the strike zone for one inning. But the Dodgers could only get one run out of it.

Roupp’s first 27 pitches of the fourth inning included just eight strikes. Four walks loaded the bases and forced in a run with one out. But Call bounced into an inning-ending double play, letting Roupp off the hook.

“I mean, I’m ready to hit,” Call said despite Roupp’s loss of control. “Bottom line is, you have to get a good pitch to hit. I’m not certainly worried about expanding, not with how I go about my at-bats, normally. I swing at a ball that’s in my zone. And certainly, that was a ball that was in my zone. Just snuck inside my barrel. I know I had the right approach, the right mindset, the right practice. Just didn’t work out.”

Roberts thought the Dodgers were building an inning that could have turned the game around.

“I thought we did,” he said of the fourth. “Alex got into a 2-1 count and (Roupp) put him on the ground. I thought we had him on the ropes. We did. And if we can get through that at-bat, get (Alex) Freeland up, we’re going to (pinch-)hit right there. It could have been a different ball game, but he got out of it, and that’s baseball.”

The Giants right-hander went just five innings because of an inflated pitch count. But he struck out seven and allowed just one hit to go with five walks. The Dodgers managed just mild threats against the string of relievers deployed by first-year Giants manager Tony Vitello in Roupp’s wake.

Hernandez doubled with one out in the sixth but didn’t advance. Shohei Ohtani beat out an infield single in the seventh, extending his on-base streak to 53 consecutive games (tying Shawn Green for the second-longest in franchise history, since 1900) and putting two runners on with two outs. Kyle Tucker struck out to end the inning.

“It speaks to his talent,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s streak – in the midst of an otherwise modest start. “Shawn had a great streak. For him to tie that streak … says a lot about Shohei. He’s really not hit his stride yet. He’s really not comfortable with his swing. It just shows that he’s an impact player. He’s getting on base. The streak speaks to that.

“If we could just get him going and a couple others, we’ll put up some crooked numbers.”