Manaea pitches 7 scoreless innings to end skid against Dodgers as Giants beat LA 5-1
By BETH HARRIS
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Manaea exorcised his Dodger Stadium demons with every pitch he threw.
He scattered three hits over seven shutout innings to beat the Dodgers for the first time in his career, and Mike Yastrzemski, Thairo Estrada and Tyler Fitzgerald homered as the San Francisco Giants defeated Los Angeles 5-1 on Friday night.
“I have nightmares about coming to this place and facing these guys,” Manaea said. “Obviously, they’re very good and it’s been like that for a long time. I haven’t had much success, if any, here. So to do that, dreams do come true.”
Manaea (7-6) has earned the only two wins on the Giants’ road trip. The left-hander struck out two, walked none and improved to 1-5 in 10 career appearances against the Dodgers. He came in with a career 9.00 ERA against LA.
“You come here five times in a row and have a combined 13 innings with 30 runs or whatever it is, it can wear down a guy,” Manaea said. “Just keep going up there, go through the embarrassment and go through all that stuff.”
The Giants had lost three in a row and six of seven while falling back in the crowded NL wild-card race. They returned to .500 after dropping below that mark for the first time since June 5 with a loss in the series opener Thursday.
After Miguel Rojas singled in the third, Manaea retired 11 batters in a row in his best outing of the season.
“He’s just done a really nice job of staying under control through a really rocky and up-and-down season,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “Staying strong mentally and staying very prepared for a night like this.”
The NL West champion Dodgers managed just three baserunners through seven innings and none advanced past first.
“I just believed in my stuff,” Manaea said. “The more I throw it, I have confidence in all three of my pitches. There’s no need to shy away from things, and just attack guys.”
After Manaea exited, the Dodgers had the potential tying runs aboard in the eighth with two outs. James Outman singled off reliever Tyler Rogers, and pinch-hitter Jason Heyward struck out but went to first base on a passed ball by catcher Patrick Bailey. Mookie Betts walked to load the bases.
Freddie Freeman singled to make it 3-1 and leave the bases loaded for Camilo Doval, who retired Will Smith on a grounder to first to end the threat. Doval earned his 38th save.
Yastrzemski homered down the right-field line with two outs in the fourth, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead. Joc Pederson doubled leading off against Gavin Stone (1-1), who followed Dodgers opener Caleb Ferguson.
Estrada made it 3-0 in the sixth with a solo shot to left.
Fitzgerald hit a two-run shot — his first in the majors in his second big league game — in the ninth, extending the lead to 5-1.
“I kind of blacked out a little bit,” said Fitzgerald, who doubled in his debut Thursday. ”I think I ran the bases a little too fast. I should have enjoyed it a little bit more. It was awesome.”
Stone (1-1) gave up three runs and three hits in 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two.
Freeman singled off Manaea in the first to reach 200 hits for the first time in his career. Earlier this week, Freeman became the first Dodgers first baseman to join the 20-20 club and just the second first baseman with 20-plus steals. He has 26 homers and 21 stolen bases.
The last Dodgers player with 200 hits in a season was Adrián Beltré in 2004, and their last first baseman to do it was Steve Garvey in 1980.
Freeman made a sparkling defensive play in foul territory in the eighth. A ball hit by Wilmer Flores bounced out of his glove and Freeman caught it barehanded for the first out.
Smith singled leading off the seventh but was quickly erased when J.D. Martinez grounded into a double play.
COMING FULL CIRCLE
Despite being in just his second big league game, playing behind Manaea was not unfamiliar to Fitzgerald.
His brother, Mike, was Manaea’s catcher at Indiana State.
“I grew up going to Sean’s games,” Tyler Fitzgerald said.
Mike Fitzgerald was on hand to see his younger brother’s first major league homer. Tyler got the ball back after the game and posed for a photo with it in the Giants clubhouse.
Their father, also named Mike, was chosen in the first round of the 1984 MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and played 13 games in the majors.
UP NEXT
The Giants had yet to announce a starter for Saturday. LHP Clayton Kershaw (12-4, 2.52) goes for the Dodgers.
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