Andy Pages’ 10th-inning homer lifts Dodgers past Giants after long deadlock

A 1-1 game that refused to move

San Francisco struck first in the second inning when Scott Bandura singled to centre and Shay Whitcomb scored for a 1-0 lead. It was a modest opening in a game that stayed tight almost all afternoon, because the Giants never added to it and the Dodgers needed time to turn their traffic on the bases into runs.

Los Angeles finally matched that run in the fourth. Kyle Tucker came home on Pages’ sacrifice fly to right, with Max Muncy moving to third, and the line score froze there for a long stretch. The clubs were tied 1-1 after four innings and remained tied through the ninth, a stalemate created in different ways by both pitching staffs.

For San Francisco, that meant a parade of arms doing just enough to keep the Dodgers from landing a bigger inning. The Giants used 10 pitchers and, until the 10th, limited the damage despite six walks and several Dodgers reaching base more than once. Carson Seymour, Joel Kuhnel, Braxton Roxby, Dylan Smith, Jason Foley, Trent Harris and Camilo Doval all supplied scoreless work at different points, and that kept the Giants within one swing for most of the day.

Call opened the door, Pages slammed it shut

The game finally changed in the 10th. Alex Call doubled to left and Miguel Rojas scored, giving the Dodgers their first lead at 2-1. It was the kind of hit Los Angeles had been chasing for innings: a clean extra-base swing in a game where chances had come and gone without a breakthrough.

Pages made sure there would be no second escape. With Call and Muncy aboard, he drove a 399-foot homer to left, stretching the margin from one run to four and turning a tense extra-inning tie into a 5-1 Dodgers win. Pages finished with four RBIs on just one official hit because his afternoon also included the sacrifice fly that tied the game in the fourth.

That late outburst gave proper weight to some quieter offensive work around him. Muncy reached four times on two hits and two walks. Tommy Edman also had two hits and a walk. Call scored once and drove in the go-ahead run, while Tucker crossed the plate twice. Los Angeles did not overwhelm San Francisco for nine innings, but it kept stacking enough base runners to make the 10th possible.

Our take: San Francisco’s pitching plan held up far longer than its bats did

The Giants can point to nine competitive innings and a pitching group that kept a dangerous lineup largely in check, but the offensive line leaves little room for sympathy. San Francisco managed five hits, all singles, drew only two walks and struck out 14 times. When a game stays 1-1 into extras, that kind of production asks too much of every pitcher who follows.

Los Angeles was hardly perfect before the 10th, yet its path to the win was clearer. The Dodgers saw 144 pitches, drew six walks, collected three doubles and eventually got the homer that settled everything. They also received the steadier run prevention line: seven pitchers combined to allow one run on five hits while striking out 14. Bobby Miller’s two scoreless innings with five strikeouts stood out in the middle of that effort, and Justin Wrobleski added two scoreless innings with three strikeouts of his own.

What separated the clubs, in the end, was not a flood of offence but the ability to turn one late opening into a decisive inning. The Giants kept the game under control for a long time, yet never built a cushion beyond Bandura’s RBI single. The Dodgers stayed patient enough to reach the 10th within touching distance, then got the two swings that mattered most: Call’s double for the lead and Pages’ homer for the finish.

Scoring moments

1. 2nd Inning

   Bandura singled to center, Whitcomb scored.

2. 4th Inning

   Pages hit sacrifice fly to right, Tucker scored, Muncy to third.

3. 10th Inning

   Call doubled to left, Rojas scored.

4. 10th Inning

   Pages homered to left (399 feet), Call scored and Muncy scored.