For the second day, Giants second baseman Joe Panik ruined an otherwise enthralling performance, this time by homering off All-Star Dodgers Kenley Jansen in the ninth innings on Friday to give the Giants their second win with 1-0 over the Dodgers.
The Dodgers have been shut out in the first two straight games for the second time in their 135 year history, the first time since the year 1968. This is for the first time that the Dodgers have lost a game 1-0 game back to back since the year 2000 when the franchise played against the Mets and Braves.
Before the Friday’s game began, Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager had praised Alex Wood for his competitiveness and had said that the left-hander has worked hard in his preparation by being around Clayton Kershaw for a few years now. Roberts said that Wood has evolved and ascended to that top-tier level.
In the Friday’s game, Wood lived up the billing by allowing just one hit in eight scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no walks. He had to play like that as Johnny Cueto was brilliant in a similar manner, allowing just one hit of his own in the seven innings. Cueto managed to take the game into the seventh innings but Chris Taylor, on the other hand, broke it up with a leadoff single. Due to his action, Taylor was immediately erased on a double play ground ball by Cory Seager. This is the Dodgers offense since two games into the season.
Wood said that that is a total outlier for the team. He said that after the first two games, he is sure that everyone is shocked because the team lost in the first two games of the season. However, they form a great team starting from the top to the bottom, he further said.
