Giants shut out by Dodgers, 7-0

The San Francisco Giants were shut out by the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight, losing 7-0.

In a week filled with discourse about how boring the Giants are, they certainly didn’t do a single thing to disprove the narrative. So I’m going to give this recap the effort the Giants gave in tonight’s game.

I used to love writing recaps. It has always been my favorite thing to do since I first started writing here in 2016. Wins, losses, didn’t matter. It was fun, and I could find something funny to say about almost any game. These days, I’ve come to dread them.

There’s only so many ways I can write about the exact same game every week. And this time I can’t even use the tried and true “Giants band together to score one run.” Because they couldn’t.

Honestly, I’m not sure there’s a single good thing to say about the Giants tonight.

The pitching wasn’t good. John Brebbia: One run on one hit with a walk and a strikeout in one and a third innings. Taylor Rogers, two runs on one hit with a walk and three strikeouts in one and a third innings. Jakob Junis had a clean inning and a third, but left with neck tightness. Ross Stripling ate the rest of the innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Just inspiring stuff.

The offense wasn’t just not good, it was nonexistent. Two hits and three walks, 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. Eleven strikeouts. They went down in order in six innings.

Truly riveting, edge of your seat entertainment.

As for the Dodgers, well, if you’re into that kind of thing I guess I can let you know how they scored. J.D. Martinez hit a leadoff home run in the second inning. Then he doubled in two runs in the third. Freddie Freeman doubled in a run in the fifth. Then Max Muncy followed that up with an RBI single. And finally, Mookie Betts doubled in two runs in the eighth. All in all, the Dodgers had ten hits and five walks and capitalized on almost half of their baserunners.

Clayton Kershaw continued to do Clayton Kershaw things against the Giants, allowing both of the Giants’ hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings. And the bullpen allowed only a walk in four innings.

There was one impressive play that stands out. Duane Kuiper was talking about Mookie Betts’ hitless streak in the series and nearly got a good old fashioned broadcaster’s curse, but was saved by Luis Matos:

Betts would, of course, go on to get two hits in the game. But at least Kuip was spared from the jinx.

At this point, we have to appreciate the little things.