SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers played a doubleheader on Thursday, August 27 at Oracle Park. The teams had to make up a game in their series because they didn’t play last night in protest of racial injustice in America. For this season only, all doubleheader games will be seven innings long instead of the usual nine. This is because Major League Baseball officials don’t want players to play too long during the pandemic.
The Los Angeles Dodgers dominated game one of the doubleheader, winning 7-to-0 and putting an end to the Giants’ seven game winning streak. Left-hander Clayton Kershaw made the start for the Dodgers and pitched well, hurling six scoreless innings while striking out four. The Dodgers’ defense played well behind Kershaw, especially center fielder Cody Bellinger and left fielder AJ Pollock who made difficult catches in the first inning to take hits away from Giants’ players Wilmer Flores and Darin Ruf. The Giants also had good defense as center fielder Mike Yastrzemski robbed a home run in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers got to Giants’ starting pitcher Logan Webb, scoring five times and knocking him out of the game in the fourth inning. The Dodgers scored three times on infield hits and also got a two-run triple by catcher Austin Barnes. They added two more runs in the seventh via AJ Pollock’s sixth home run of the year.
The Dodgers also won the second game by the score of 2-to-0. Despite sending out a parade of relievers, the Dodgers managed to hold the Giants to only two hits. Entering today, the Giants had yet to be shut out this season. Yet, they failed to score over two games and 14 innings played. Kevin Guasman made the start for the Giants, pitching into the fifth inning and striking out six. He gave up two runs and the Dodgers forced him to throw a lot of pitches. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got the save as the Giants stranded two men on base in the seventh and final inning.
