Marco Scutaro tied the game with his bat, then lost it with his glove.
Elian Herrera hit a liner off Scutaro’s glove with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the NL West champion San Francisco Giants on Monday night.
Scutaro tied the game at 2-2 in the eighth with a RBI single that extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games. He scored the Giants’ first run after walking in the first. The second baseman is batting .449 during the streak, the longest active one in the majors.
But he couldn’t quite make a play on Herrera’s hit with the infield drawn in that extended the Dodgers’ winning streak to six games and kept their postseason hopes alive.
“That ball was smoked,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We were in a tough situation there. It wasn’t that bad a pitch, but he took a good swing and smoked it. Marco made a great effort.”
Hanley Ramirez led off the ninth with a single off Santiago Casilla (7-6), advanced on a sacrifice by Shane Victorino and was held up at third on Luis Cruz’s single. A.J. Ellis was intentionally walked and Herrera lined an 0-1 pitch off Scutaro’s glove.
