SAN FRANCISCO — There’s no such thing as a “must-win” game in late April. Especially not for a team like the Dodgers, who entered Thursday with the second-best record in the majors at 16-8.
Still, after the Dodgers lost four of their previous five and faced a potential sweep at the hands of the Giants, LA manager Dave Roberts did his best to conjure some renewed urgency.
“We got to win today,” he said before the club’s series finale at Oracle Park.
And in a 3-0 victory, that attitude was evident — both in the way Roberts managed and the way his team played.
On Thursday morning, Roberts shuffled his lineup, moving the slumping Kyle Tucker down the batting order. He also bypassed the temptation to give Shohei Ohtani a day off, despite his six-inning pitching start the night before. Roberts’ hope was that such moves would kick-start a recently scuffling season and salvage something from the end of a road trip in which the team had already clinched a losing overall record.
“I do think that it’ll turn,” Roberts said.
It did, just enough.
Though the Dodgers (17-8) didn’t exactly break out at the plate Thursday, Tyler Glasnow made sure they didn’t really need to, dominating over eight scoreless innings in one of his best starts with the team.
The lineup, meanwhile, manufactured offense when needed, tagging Giants ace Logan Webb with three runs over seven innings.
“Across the board,” Roberts said, “just a well-played baseball game.”
In both their rallies, the Dodgers relied on aggressive baserunning and improved situational at-bats.
In the second inning, Max Muncy walked, stayed out of a potential double play by running on a full-count pitch Andy Pages hit on the ground, then scored on Dalton Rushing’s RBI single.
In the fourth, Tucker snapped out of his slump by hitting a leadoff double. Muncy also doubled in the next at-bat to bring him home. Then Muncy scored on an aggressive send from third base coach Dino Ebel, who wisely tested Heliot Ramos’ weak arm in left field on an RBI single from Hyeseong Kim.
From there, Glasnow went into cruise control while protecting the 3-0 lead. After working around a walk in the first inning, he faced the minimum over the next seven frames, finishing with nine strikeouts and only one hit allowed (which was erased on a double-play ball) in what was the third scoreless eight-inning start in his MLB career.
And in the ninth, Tanner Scott handled the Dodgers’ first save opportunity since closer Edwin Díaz went on the injured list — ensuring that, on a day Roberts felt the Dodgers had to win, they did.
What it means
The Dodgers only went 3-4 on this Denver/San Francisco road trip but at least finished it with some confidence.
They are now one win behind the Braves for the most victories in the majors. They also denied the Giants (11-14) what would have been their first sweep in this rivalry matchup since 2023.
Who’s hot
Glasnow, who has looked increasingly impressive with each start this season.
On Thursday, the right-hander relied heavily on a sinker he has slowly reincorporated into his arsenal since coming to Los Angeles three years ago. He used the pitch almost half the time. It accounted for six of his 16 total whiffs.
“Some days the four-seam works, some days the two-seam works,” Glasnow said. “It’s just having another option to go to … It just [gives opposing batters] so much to cover. And then I can play my slider and my curveball off of those. So it’s really helped me out a lot.”
Indeed, Glasnow also mixed in the rest of his arsenal to effect against the Giants, retiring the final 14 batters he faced while matching his season high for strikeouts.
His ERA is now 2.45, after allowing just one run in 17 innings over two starts on this trip.
His only real regret Thursday? Not pushing to go for a first career complete game with his pitch count only at 105.
“I feel like I should have fought a little harder,” he joked. “But, yeah, that’s fine. I know we have a good ‘pen.”
Who’s not
Tucker got himself out of this category by going 2-for-4. A couple guys hitting in front of him, however, did not.
Teoscar Hernández suffered an 0-for-4 performance Thursday, punctuating a dreadful 2-for-24 showing on this road trip. His batting average is now down to .244.
Ohtani also failed to get aboard for a second straight contest, following his 53-game on-base streak. He struck out twice in an 0-for-5 that dropped his season average to .245.
“He’s expanding down,” Roberts said of Ohtani. “It’s just really hard to slug on balls at the bottom of the zone, and that’s what he’s doing. If we can get him back at the belt and swing at those balls, you’ll see the production.”
Up next
There’s no off day for the Dodgers this week. They return home Friday to open a weekend series with the Cubs, continuing a stretch of 13 games in a row. Emmet Sheehan (2-0, 5.85 ERA) will start against right-hander Jameson Taillon (1-1, 3.97 ERA).
