Competition is always fascinating to observe, but in all professional sport leagues there are a select few rivalries that every true sports fan can't resist to care about. One of the largest MLB rivalries resides in California between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
The heated battle derived from New York when the Dodgers were located in Brooklyn and the Giants called New York their home. Both teams re-located to the west in 1957, but the rivalry didn't end there. Now with both clubs in the NL West, the teams play often and there are no shortages of fiery confrontations.
In 2014 Giants' ace Madison Bumgarner hit young Yasiel Puig with a pitch that prompted him to charge the mound. With the race in the NL West tight, it wouldn't be surprising to see more entertaining encounters in this three game series. One pitcher known for his aggression, Jake Peavy (4-6, 4.21 ERA), was slated to make the start Monday night. In his last start Peavy collected a win against the Chicago Cubs at home and looked to build on it in a big way with his appearance against the Dodgers.
Though a lead off single by Jimmy Rollins and an RBI double from Justin Turner put the Giants in an early hole in the first. Peavy then engineered three straight innings in which he retired all nine hitters he faced.
This development is very similar to his night against the Cubs. Where in that start he gave up a pair of early runs, but battled to keep them at only two until he was replaced in the middle of the seventh.
It took the Giants three innings until they finally got the offense rolling against starter Brett Anderson (8-8, 3.36 ERA) by taking the lead with three runs scored. To start the inning Blanco reached base on an infield single, but was called out on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt from Peavy. Aoki followed with a walk and Duffy provided with another classic opposite field single. With the bases juiced Brandon Belt approached the plate with unexplainable confidence. In his last five plate appearances during Sunday and into Monday he reached base on a hit and was looking to make it six straight. A laser straight up the middle to center scored Peavy from third and kept the bases loaded for Posey. The Giants' catcher popped up, but the next batter, Marlon Byrd, came through with an infield single that ended up scoring two due to a clever base running decision by Duffy who capitalized on a bobble by Chase Utley at second.
Besides the third, the Giants couldn't really get much offense rolling in the early going. Now with the lead though, Peavy strove to carry this momentum through the rest of his start. He once again ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth, though. Two home runs by lefties Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Either lifted the Dodgers back above the Giants, 4-3. Perhaps Peavy's competitive nature got the best of him towards the end of his outing as he remained in the game despite early struggles in the inning. Josh Osich replaced him and shut down the Dodgers in the sixth.
With the Giants failing to score a run in the seventh, Osich started the bottom half as well, but Hunter Strickland ended up finishing off the frame. To begin the eighth, the Dodgers called upon Juan Nicasio to hold the lead. The first hitter he faced, Matt Duffy, reached on a walk. Power hitters Posey and Belt couldn't advance him so with Marlon Byrd at the plate, Duffy swiped second to get into scoring position. For his seventeenth RBI in ten games, Byrd then provided a RBI double to tie the game. Although it didn't seem like much at the time, Duffy's stolen base really paid off as the game was now tied.
With one out in the eighth the Dodgers had another opportunity to strike again with Utley getting to third, but they squandered it with Sergio Romo getting the final two outs to advance the game into the ninth.
Neither team scored in the ninth, but Los Angeles certainly had a chance to pounce. They managed to get Grandal to third, but Romo struck out the next two batters he faced to send the game into extra innings. Within the inning during Rollins' at bat, there was a controversial no-call on what could have been declared a balk to score the game winning run. Though, the umpires didn't end up making the call and the game dragged on forward.
The Giants in the top of the tenth had a single from Posey followed by a hit by pitch to Marlon Byrd to give them a shot with two runners on base. Both Crawford and Perez couldn't capitalize, though, as the game remained tied. Closer Santiago Casilla entered the ball game in a non-save situation. He manufactured a clean three up, three down inning despite facing the heart of the Dodger lineup.
Failing to even orchestrate any offense until the fourteeth inning, the Giants couldn't put a run on the board to take the lead. Chris Hatcher was able to escape the fourteeth inning in which the Giants looked to be threatening. Luckily, up until the bottom of the fourteenth, the Dodgers didn't fair much better either.
Unfortunately for the Giants, Michael Broadway loaded the bases with the first three batters he faced in the fourteenth inning. He walked Ellis and then two straight singles from Rollins and Utley forced him out of the game. Without an out still yet recorded, Yusmeiro Petit entered the game and on the first pitch he threw, the game ended. Adrian Gonzalez came in clutch again for his team with a walk off hit over the head of Aoki in left.
In the end, Michael Broadway, who only threw eleven pitches, will take home the loss while Chris Hatcher's solid night will be rewarded with a win. Not only is this a heartbreaking loss for the Giants, but both teams will need to now figure a way out to utilize their tired bullpens.
Both teams have a good chance of getting solid outings from their starters Tuesday night as Madison Bumgarner (16-6, 2.97 ERA) squares off against Zack Greinke (14-3, 1.61 ERA). The Dodgers extend their first place lead to 4.5 games and start the month of September with a solid step. The Giants, on the other hand, will have to heal their wounds and prepare for a tough pitchers duel on Tuesday.