Mike Yastrzemski's blast lifts Giants to 5-1 win over Dodgers

Veteran Giants lefty Sean Manaea, who recently returned to the rotation, continued his impressive stretch to finish the season. He shutout the Dodgers across seven innings of work and laid the ground work for the win. Manaea's velocity topped out at 96.6 mph early, but he held Los Angeles' offense in check by inducing a lot of soft contact with some help from his defense.

It's no secret that the Giants defense has struggled recently, with 10 errors across their previous five games. However, they held up well on Friday night, especially behind Manaea. Manaea only struck out two batters, but allowed just three singles and zero walks.

Dodgers opener Caleb Ferguson and rookie righty Gavin Stone no-hit the Giants for three innings. However, manager Gabe Kapler deployed Joc Pederson as a pinch-hitter for Austin Slater to lead off the fourth inning. Pederson led off the frame with a double to put himself in scoring position.

Stone retired the next two hitters, but outfielder Mike Yastrzemski sat on an 0-1 breaking ball and sent it high and deep into the right-field bleachers for a two-run home run. Yastrzemski's 15th home run gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead, and they never looked back. After a costly mental error on Thursday, Yastrzemski was surely happy to get back on the right side of things.

Thairo Estrada added to the Giants lead with a solo home run against Stone in the top of the sixth inning. Stone made a mistake with a 1-1 slider and Estrada blasted the hanger over the left-center field wall for his 13th home run of the season.

Kapler turned to Tyler Rogers in the bottom of the eighth, but the Dodgers were finally able to get on the scoreboard against the Giants submariner. Rogers quickly recorded two outs and struck out Jason Heyward after allowing just one single, but catcher Patrick Bailey whiffed on the pitch, which allowed Heyward to reach base and extend the inning.

With two runners on, Rogers walked Mookie Betts and surrendered an RBI single to Freddie Freeman before he was pulled for closer Camilo Doval. Doval has had his struggles recently, but succesfully stopped the bleeding and went on to record the four-out save. It was his 38th save of the season.

As for the Giants recent call ups, Marco Luciano (Giants Top 4 Prospect) went 2-for-4 and recorded his first-career MLB stolen base. Tyler Fitzgerald (Giants Top 13 Prospect) only had one hit, but it was his first-career MLB home run. After Luciano kept the top of the ninth alive with a two-out single against Ryan Yarbrough, Fitzgerald lined a two-run homer down the left-field line. Fitzgerald also looked comfortable in center field.

The Giants got significant contributions from one of their offseason acquisitions, two veteran team leaders, and two rookies. That was the recipe that could have had the makings of a playoff team. It may not be this season, but the front office hopes it's a sign of things to come in 2024.

Following one of their best all-around performances in weeks, the SF Giants will look to keep the positive momentum going this weekend against the Dodgers. They have not yet announced a starter for Saturday's game, but whoever gets the nod will face Clayton Kershaw. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM Pacific.