LOS ANGELES — LaMonte Wade Jr. and J.D. Davis continued to make their All-Star cases Saturday while Alex Wood enjoyed a successful return from a two-week absence to lead the Giants over the Dodgers, 15-0, extending their winning streak to a season-best six games.
Wood gave the Giants five shutout innings, while a pair of home runs from Wade and Davis powered the offense against Dodgers rookie starter Bobby Miller, whose ERA started with a zero when the night began and a two by the time he left after five innings.
Davis blew the game open with a pinch-hit grand slam in the sixth off Los Angeles reliever Alex Vesia, after Wade opened a 4-0 lead with a three-run shot down the right field line in the fifth. The 15-run margin made for the Giants’ biggest blowout of their rivals since a 19-3 win on Sept. 14, 2013, and their largest shutout victory in the rivalry since the teams moved to California in 1958.
With back-to-back wins here the past two nights, San Francisco clinched its first series win at Dodger Stadium since taking three of four from July 19-22, 2021 and secured more wins in its first two games this season in baseball’s biggest venue (attendance Saturday night: 51,385) than in all of 2022.
There hasn’t been a hotter team over the past month than the Giants, who own the majors’ best record since May 15 (21-9), allowing them to pull within a half game of the Dodgers for second place in the NL West (but still 4.5 back of the first-place D-backs, who are 20-10 in that span) and into sole possession of the second wild card spot.
If the Giants keep up this play and continue to get this kind of production from Davis and Estrada, they’ll have a good case to send multiple representatives to Seattle for the All-Star Game next month. While closer Camilo Doval is an obvious choice, Davis was the Giants’ top vote-getter, fourth among NL third basemen, in the first balloting update released by MLB last week, with Wade and second baseman Thairo Estrada among the top 10 at their positions.
Wade’s homer was his ninth of the season, coming on the first pitch he saw — a terribly located curveball — from Miller. The power stroke has been a nice complement to Wade’s elite ability to reach base, the second-highest rate in the NL, and his defense at first base, which according to Defensive Runs Saved has been the best in the majors.
Davis also attacked the first pitch and became the second Giants player in as many games to hobble around the bases, after Wilmer Flores homered Friday on a bruised left foot that forced him to the IL before Saturday’s game. Davis, who sprained his right ankle Wednesday in St. Louis, estimated before the game he was still running at about 80% but was available to pinch-hit, which he quickly proved. Davis stood and watched as his long ball traveled an estimated 441 feet over the center field wall, clearing the bases and extending the Giants’ lead to 9-0.
Wade and Davis each finished with five RBIs, while Patrick Bailey and Brandon Crawford contributed two apiece, and Luis Matos scored all four times he reached base.
Making his first start back from his second stint on the IL this season (low back strain), Wood turned in arguably his best outing of the year against a Dodgers lineup averaging the third-most runs per game in the majors (5.51). Working on a pitch count, Wood needed only 67 to make it through five shutout innings.
With Tristan Beck taking down the final four innings, the Giants needed to use only two pitchers — valuable relief after using eight in their 11-inning win Friday.
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