LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers used the long ball to dig themselves out of an even bigger hole against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.
Max Muncy, Michael Conforto, Tommy Edman and Shohei Ohtani homered to help the Dodgers erase an early four-run deficit and march on to a 7-5 victory at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers (88-67) won their fourth straight game, lifting them 21 games over .500 for the first time since July 6. They also maintained their four-game lead over the San Diego Padres for first place in the NL West, trimming their magic number to three.
“Our guys are playing playoff-caliber baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You can just see the intensity each pitch, each play.”
The Dodgers also fell behind in the first inning on Friday night against the Giants, but home runs from Miguel Rojas, Ohtani and Mookie Betts helped them rally for a 6-3 victory in the final regular-season home game for starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
The Giants batted around in the first inning against Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow (4-3) on Saturday, but he collected himself and completed five innings to win his third straight outing.
Glasnow exited after allowing four runs and six hits, striking out seven and walking four.
“That game could have ended a lot differently for me and I’m glad I could go back out and compete,” Glasnow said. “We stuck in the game the whole time, so it was just easy for me to feed off that. … I’m just glad I was able to salvage it.”
Giants starter Kai-Wei Teng struck out Ohtani and Betts to start the game, but then hit Freddie Freeman in the foot with an 0-2 curveball, bringing up Muncy, who belted a line drive to right-center field that barely cleared the fence for a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 4-2.
Lee lost his command in the third inning, walking Betts with one out and then hitting Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez with two outs, but he got the final batter he faced, Edman, to pop out to end the inning.
Jose Butto started the fourth for the Giants and served up a one-out solo homer to Conforto to trim the lead to 4-3.
Conforto had three hits overall, his second three-hit game in the past four, raising his batting average to .203, his highest since mid-April.
“We’re in a good place for sure,” Conforto said of his swing. “Being able to go to left center is a really good sign. Being able to stay on a changeup out over the plate and hit a line drive to left, that’s definitely a good sign. Those are the things that I do when I feel like I’m right.”
Butto exited after issuing back-to-back two-out walks to Ohtani and Betts following Conforto’s homer.
The Giants went to left-hander Matt Gage and Freeman grounded an RBI single through the right side to tie it 4-4.
Edman then came up with one out in the fifth and went the other way against Joel Peguero (3-1), hitting the ball off the left-field foul pole for another solo home run and a 5-4 lead.
Ohtani led off the sixth with a towering home run to left field, his 53rd of the season, extending the lead to 6-4.
“I love when Shohei uses the whole field because he’s strong enough to hit the ball out anywhere,” Roberts said. “When he’s going to center field, to left-center field, he’s very dangerous. … This September has been his best month.”
Betts followed with a double into the left-field corner and he came home on a single by Hernandez off the glove of Matt Chapman at third to make it 7-4.
The Giants got a run back with a solo home run by Rafael Devers in the seventh to make it 7-5.
Will Klein struck out the side in the eighth for the Dodgers and Jack Dreyer pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
“You get behind 4-0 and you don’t have any momentum,” Roberts said. “But for us to not quit on the game and keep fighting and try to scratch our way back into it….so yeah, in total, a very good ball game.”
Heliot Ramos led off the four-run first inning with a soft single to right for San Francisco (76-79). After getting a flyout to center, Willy Adames laced a hard single through the left side.
Chapman then walked after falling behind 1-2, bringing up Bryce Eldridge, a first-round pick of the Giants in 2023 who was 0-for-9 in his first three major-league games.
Glasnow fell behind 2-0 before Eldridge hit a line drive over the head of Conforto in left, clearing the bases for a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco wasn’t finished, as it reloaded the bases with a single and a walk. Glasnow got the second out with a strikeout, but then walked No. 9 hitter Drew Gilbert after getting ahead 0-2, forcing in a run to make it 4-0.
Glasnow, who allowed one run and three hits over 6⅔ innings in a win against the Giants in his last outing, needed 43 pitches to get through the first inning.
“Just didn’t have any command, and so it was just really important for him to regroup,” Roberts said. “He could have easily punted on the outing, but he dug deep to find a way to go out there and keep competing.”