Dodgers sweep Giants on the road

Going into this weekend’s series at San Francisco, the Dodgers were 1.5 games behind the Giants in the National League West after trading the top spot since the All-Star break.

But in head-to-head competition, the Giants had the Dodgers’ number.

San Francisco started the season by taking two of three at Dodger Stadium in early April. In mid-
April the Dodgers traveled to San Francisco and the Giants took two out of three again.

In early May, San Francisco returned to Los Angeles and took three out of four against the Dodgers and held a 7-3 record in head-to-head meetings.

The Giants had to believe they were the better team.

All that changed this weekend. The Dodgers swept the Giants to take a 1.5 game lead in the NL West.

Zack Greinke (12-6) threw seven scoreless innings on Friday night and Yasiel Puig had three triples and a double as the Dodgers crushed the Giants 8-1.

On Saturday, Clayton Kershaw (12-2) pitched a complete game shutout and held the Giants to three hits enroute to a 5-0 win. Adrian Gonzalez went three-for-five, Hanley Ramirez had a pair of hits and Juan Uribe had a pair of hits and two RBI as Los Angeles cruised.

Tonight, Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5) scattered six hits through six innings and gave up three runs as the Dodgers posted a 4-3 win to complete the sweep. Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp had a pair of hits apiece and Carl Crawford had a run-scoring triple to pace the Dodgers.

Perhaps the most dynamic play of the game came when Dee Gordon scored from third when a third strike got away from Giants’ catcher Buster Posey. Posey glanced at third and then threw to first to record the out. Gordon broke for the plate on the throw and beat the return throw to home for a run. Ironically, Gordon had reached first on a third strike wild pitch when Posey couldn’t handle a Jake Peavy breaking ball.

The Los Angeles offense responded to changes in the lineup and batting order with Puig moving to center field and Kemp moving to right. Crawford started all three games in left, leaving Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke to platoon where needed.

Dodgers' skipper Don Mattingly said Puig is on a quick learning curve to pick up the nuances of playing center field and Kemp is looking more comfortable in right.

J.P. Howell, Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen finished up for Ryu with Jansen striking out the side in the ninth for the save. After struggling in the first half, the Dodger bullpen has started to hit its stride in the second half.