SAN FRANCISCO —
The “opener” in what was supposed to be a “bullpen game” for the San Francisco Giants outlasted the Dodgers’ starter, which should provide a hint at how things went for the visiting team on a sun-splashed Sunday afternoon in Oracle Park.
Dodgers left-hander James Paxton was pummeled for nine earned runs and 12 hits in four innings of an eventual 10-4 loss to the Giants, failing to give his team a chance to win or provide much-needed length after eight relievers combined to throw eight innings in Saturday’s 14-7, 11-inning victory.
Meanwhile, reliever Spencer Bivens, a 30-year-old rookie who was expected to go two, maybe two-plus innings for the Giants, threw five one-run, four-hit innings with three strikeouts, the right-hander punctuating his 60-pitch outing with a full windup and violent fist pump after he struck out Shohei Ohtani with an 82-mph sweeper to end the fifth.