Andrew Susac leads San Francisco to win over Los Angeles
By Jake Misener
After right-handers Dan Haren and Jake Peavy matched each other pitch-for-pitch for the first seven innings on Monday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants battled into the 13th, when Bruce Bochy‘s club pushed across a trio of runs to take the opener of the three-game set by a 5-2 final at Dodger Stadium.
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San Francisco (85-71) opened the rally with a one-out single off the bat of first baseman Brandon Belt, who was cut down at the plate by Dodgers center fielder Yasiel Puig in the top of the 11th while attempting to score the go-ahead tally. Outfielder Juan Perez then hit into a fielder’s choice, advancing Belt to second with two outs. Following an intentional walk by right-hander Kevin Correia to shortstop Brandon Crawford, Andrew Susac entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Santiago Casilla.
Susac lined the first pitch he saw from Correia (7-17, 5.44 ERA) to left field, where Carl Crawford played it off one bounce, before firing to home in an attempt to throw out Belt. However, his throw was off-line, allowing the Giants first baseman to score the go-ahead run, and Crawford to advance to third. Gregor Blanco followed the go-ahead base hit with a two-run double that made it a 5-2 Giants lead, propelling San Francisco to a badly-needed win.
Los Angeles (89-68) managed just four hits on the ballgame, also making three errors. The only two Dodgers runs of the night came against Peavy in the bottom of the fifth, via a Car Crawford home run down the left field line and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dee Gordon that scored Juan Uribe from third. In his seven innings of work, Peavy, who was acquired in a midseason trade with the Boston Red Sox, allowed just the two runs – on four hits, striking out four and walking one.
His counterpart, Haren, was just as good, allowing just one hit, two runs – one of which was earned – striking out seven in an effort that was certainly good enough to warrant a win. He also eclipsed the 180-inning mark for the season, which automatically vested his option for the 2015 season – at a price tag of $10 million. Whether or not he will return or retire at 34 remains to be seen, however.
The Giants opened the scoring with a lead-off home run in the top of the first by Blanco, his fifth of the season. The team added a second run in the top of the third with a safety squeeze by Joe Panik that allowed Blanco to score from third and make it 2-0 in favor of San Francisco.
With the win, the Giants froze Los Angeles’ magic number for clinching the National League West at three and lowered its own magic number for playing against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the one-game Wild Card play-in contest on Oct 1. to two – which can be reached through a combination of Milwaukee Brewers’ losses and Giants’ wins.