Hanley’s Tenth Inning Heroic Homerun Gives Dodgers Win in San Francisco

Dodgers 5 12 0

Giants 3 11 0

F/10

WP- Tolleson (1-0)

LP- Romo (3-2)

S- Jansen (20)

HR- Ramirez (15)

The Dodgers and Giants continued their historic rivalry this evening with another epic extra inning battle. Stephen Fife, making his second big league start, once again out dueled a formidable foe in Matt Cain (last time he out pitched Roy Halladay). It wasn’t smooth sailing for the spectacled righty, but Fife managed to wiggle out of quite a few jams and only allowed one SF run. Matt Cain was working the Dodgers through four innings, but they finally got to him in the fifth and sixth inning. The Giants rallied back for two in the eighth inning off of Ronald Belisario to tie the game up. It was a battle of wills and bullpens at that point, and Sergio Romo whose ERA was an eye-popping 0.59 fell victim to the newest threat to come out of L.A. Hanley Ramirez crushed a two-run shot in to the night sky of the Bay City, and with one bat flip he instantly became the most hated Dodger. While we were celebrating our new golden boy, the Giants fans were hatin’.

Mid-game we learned that the Colorado Rockies traded Marco Scutaro and cash considerations to the Giants for minor leaguer Charlie Culberson. The Dodgers will be surely making additional moves before Tuesday.

Matt Cain goes to the mound for San Francisco in the first, and he quickly retires the Dodgers in order.

Stephen Fife is making his second start for the Dodgers, and he allows a lead-off walk to Nate Schierholtz. Ryan “TOOTBLAN” Theriot grounds into an unassisted double play handled by Luis Cruz. Melky Cabrera singles to center. Buster Posey hits a long single down the right field line. Cabrera stops at third. Angel Pagan hits into a force play, and by some miracle Fife gets out of the inning without allowing runs.

In the second, James Loney singles. That is all.

Brandon Belt opens the home half of the second with a single to left field. Joaquin Arias pops out. Fife walks Brandon Crawford. Matt Cain, the opposing pitcher, singles to center field to load the bases up. Nate Schierholtz hits into a comebacker force out as Fife gets in the way of the double play. Mark Ellis tries his best to get Schierholtz at first, but he’s safe and Belt scores on the play. 1-0 Giants. Theriot lines out to Loney to end the inning.

A.J. Ellis leads off with a single to open the third. Fife grounds into a force play on a bunt attempt. Jerry Hairston Jr. flies out. Ellis lines out to first.

Fife finally sends the Giants down in order in the third inning.

Dre gets a one-out single to left field in the fourth. Hanley Ramirez hits a broken bat line drive which Arias spears. Hanley walks back to the dugout with the end of the broken bat in hand. James Loney of course makes the third out with a swinging whiff.

In the bottom of the fourth, Belt slaps a lead-off single to center. Jerry Hairston trips and falls over the ridiculously dangerous bullpens in foul territory at AT&T Park as he’s trying to catch a pop up by Crawford. He’s ok. Crawford then walks. Matt Cain bunts out, and Fife throws wildly to Hanley who makes a very nice play to get Belt out at third. Matt Kemp then makes a super over-the-shoulder catch on a ball hit by Schierholtz which saves an extra base hit.

In the fifth, Stephen Fife gets revenge on Matt Cain for his earlier hit by doubling to right field. Schierholtz kind of boots the ball in the process. That’s Fife’s first big league hit. The Dodgers finally get on the board in San Francisco with a Jerry Hairston double and a Mark Ellis single. The Dodgers take a 2-1 lead. With The Bison at the plate. Mark Ellis steals second. That’s his fifth stolen base on the year. Kemp grounds out, but the Dodgers put two up on the board.

Fife’s first strikeout of the game is Theriot. Melky and Buster both ground out for another good inning from Fife in the bottom of the fifth.

Dre starts off the sixth with a nice double to right. Loney singles home Ethier, and the Dodgers lead 3-1. Loney now has gone 2-for-3 tonight. Luis Cruz follows with a single as well. A.J. Ellis hits into an inning-ending double play.

Arias gets a little dribbler infield hit with two-out in the bottom of the sixth. Crawford hits into a force to end the inning.

Cain retires the side in order in the seventh.

Stephen Fife retires pinch-hitter Justin Christianon a great play by Hanley at third, and with that he’ll call it a night. Fife pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing 6

hits, 1 run, 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts on 93 pitches. Randy Choate will come in to relieve Fife. Choate gets Schierholtz to ground out on two pitches. Donnie is using the three-headed pitcher technique here and brings in Jamey Wright. Wright only needs one pitch to retire Theriot.

Clay Hensley comes in to relieve Cain for the eighth inning and sends down the Dodgers 1-2-3.

Matt Cain pitched 7 innings, allowing 9 hits, 3 runs, no walks, and 2 strikeouts on 102 pitches.

Ronald Belisario pitches the bottom of the eighth, and he proceeds to blow the lead. Cabrera starts  off the Giants rally with a single. Posey strikes out swinging. Pagan doubles, but it bounces over the wall so Cabrera has to hold at third base. Belt gets a broken bat single which brings in two runs, and the Giants tie the game up 3-3. Arias strikes out, and Crawford grounds out but not before the damage has already been done.

Jeremy Affeldt is in for the top of the ninth. Juan Rivera gets a pinch-hit single. Cruz sacrifice bunts Rivera over to second. Bruce Bochy brings in Santiago Casilla to try to preserve the tie. A.J. flies out. The Giants intentionally walk pinch-hitter Bobby Abreu. JHair strikes out, and the Dodgers go down in the ninth empty handed.

Shawn Tolleson comes in for the bottom of the ninth, and he surprisingly retires the side in order sending the game into extra innings.

For the third time this road trip, we are heading into extra innings. Sergio Romo is the Giants fifth pitcher of the night. Matt Kemp grounds out and he

goes 0-for-5 on the night. Ethier draws a two-out walk. Then Hanley the HERO comes up and blasts his first homerun as a Dodger! The two-run shot gives the Dodgers a 5-3 lead! Wow! Rivera follows up with a double for good measure. George Kontos comes in to replace Romo. Cruz grounds out to end the inning.

Kenley Jansen hopes to shut down San Francisco in the bottom of the tenth. He allows back-to-back singles to Cabrera and Posey. Angel Pagan battles, but he goes down swinging for the first out. Belt strikes out, and the Giants are down to their last out. Arias flies out, and the Dodgers win! That gives Kenley Jansen his 20th save and Shawn Tolleson his first career big league victory!

The Dodgers improve to 54-47, and they pick up a game on the Giants. They are now two games back.

Tomorrow afternoon game two will feature Chad Billingsley versus Barry Zito at 1:05 pm.