Giants blank Dodgers but lose Crawford, Cueto
LOS ANGELES -- Even when the San Francisco Giants win these days, bad news comes with it.
Solo homers by Eduardo Nunez in the fifth and Brandon Belt in the ninth held up for San Francisco in a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.
Though the Giants snapped a three-game losing streak, it came with a price: Winning pitcher Johnny Cueto (17-5) left the game in the sixth inning with a groin strain, and standout shortstop Brandon Crawford exited with a fractured left pinkie finger. Cueto is listed as day-to-day, while there was no immediate timetable for Crawford's return.
Regardless, the Giants (80-71) managed to pull back within five games of the Dodgers (85-66) in the National League West with 11 games left. The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals are also 80-71, leaving them and the Giants in a three-way tie for the two NL wild-card spots.
San Francisco evened the three-game set with the Dodgers ahead of the series finale Wednesday.
Trouble struck for the Giants in the top of the second, as they ran their way out of a threat and came out of it with an injury. Crawford, the team's leading RBI man with 80, was thrown out trying to go from first to third on a two-out single by Belt and had to leave the game with a fractured left pinky.
In the fourth, Dodgers starter Rich Hill (12-5) got out of a bases-loaded jam. Buster Posey and Hunter Pence both singled and Joe Panik drew a two-out walk. However, Belt was caught looking at a 1-2 pitch to end the inning.
San Francisco finally broke the ice in the top of the fifth, as Nunez roped a 1-1 pitch just over the 360 mark in left field for his 16th home run of the season. Initially called a triple, the hit was quickly ruled a homer upon review.
The Dodgers left a runner in scoring position in each of the first three innings and again in the fifth. In the latter, Cueto induced a popup from slugger Adrian Gonzalez with two men on.
Los Angeles stranded 10 runners in the game.
Cueto tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing eight hits. He fanned six and walked two. Three relievers followed, and Sergio Romo earned his first save of the season with a perfect ninth inning.
Hill allowed one run on six hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out seven.
NOTES: The Dodgers are making fun of the Monday scuffle between Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner and Los Angeles RF Yasiel Puig. On Tuesday, Puig and 1B Adrian Gonzalez tweeted pictures of several Dodgers in the clubhouse wearing T-shirts reading "#DONTLOOKATME," the words Bumgarner uttered at Puig. ... The Dodgers reinstated LHP Alex Wood from the 60-day disabled list on Tuesday. Wood, 25, had been out since May 31 due to a posterior impingement in his left elbow, and he underwent an arthroscopic debridement on July 20. To make space for Wood on the 25- and 40-man rosters, the Dodgers designated RHP Bud Norris (3-3, 6.54 ERA) for assignment. ... The Giants' 2-1 defeat to Los Angeles on Monday was the fifth time in September that they lost after leading through eight innings.