Dodgers roll over for Matt Cain, Giants in 8-4 loss

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MAY 15: Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after striking out against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the third inning at AT&T Park on May 15, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain works against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM101
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy works against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM103
San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain works against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM204
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy works against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM202
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yasmani Grandal watches his RBI double hit off San Francisco Giants’ Matt Cain in the third inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM105
San Francisco Giants’ Denard Span drops his bat after hitting an RBI single against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM206
San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Crawford throws to first base to complete a double play over Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chase Utley (26) in the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. Dodgers’ Chris Taylor was out at first base. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM106
San Francisco Giants’ Eduardo Nunez breaks his bat while hitting a two run single off Los Angeles Dodgers’ Brandon McCarthy in the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM107
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy works against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM104
San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Crawford, left, scores past Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal in the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. Crawford scored on a single by Giants’ Eduardo Nunez. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM108
San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Crawford swings for an RBI single off Los Angeles Dodgers’ Brandon McCarthy in the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM208
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MAY 15: Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers runs into the wall and watches the ball go over for a solo home run off the bat of Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the seventh inning at AT&T Park on May 15, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy (38) is relieved in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM208
San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey, right, is congratulated by third base coach Phil Nevin (16) after hitting a home run off Los Angeles Dodgers’ Grant Dayton in the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM109
San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey (28) is congratulated by manager Bruce Bochy after hitting a home run off Los Angeles Dodgers’ Grant Dayton in the seventh inning of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM110
San Francisco Giants’ Derek Law, right, and catcher Buster Posey celebrate the 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of a baseball game Monday, May 15, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) ORG XMIT: CABM111

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SAN FRANCISCO – The Dodgers’ visits to AT&T Park have taken on the feel of a TV procedural where the outcome is never really in doubt. Only the method needs to be determined.

This time, the Dodgers were done in by four consecutive hits in the bottom of the fourth inning. All four turned into runs for the San Francisco Giants, who piled on later before making that four-run burst stand up as the difference in an 8-4 defeat of the Dodgers on Monday night.

The Dodgers have now gone 6-19 in 25 games at AT&T Park since the start of the 2015 season. The only thing as reliable as the Giants beating the Dodgers here has been Clayton Kershaw being the reason when they don’t. Kershaw (who will start the series finale Wednesday afternoon) has been the starting pitcher in four of the Dodgers’ six wins over that time.

“I know we’re a better team than we’ve shown against these guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They rise to play us. … Regardless, we’ve got to find ways to play better and beat these guys.”

Not being Matt Cain’s ball of yarn to toy with would help.

Cain’s career revival finds its strongest pulse when he faces the Dodgers. He has started twice against the Dodgers this season (both at AT&T Park) and allowed just one run over 12-2/3 innings – Yasmani Grandal drove it in with an RBI double in the third inning Monday.

In six starts against anyone else this season, Cain has allowed 19 runs in 29-2/3 innings. Those hitters have batted .292 against him. The Dodgers are 7 for 43 (.163) against the Giants’ former ace.

“I can’t,” Roberts said when asked to explain the discrepancy. “I know we’re a pretty good fastball-hitting team and he doesn’t have the velocity he once did. Buster (Posey, the Giants’ catcher) did a good job with him.

“He really didn’t do anything special. He was just able to lead with his secondaries (off-speed pitches), which really kept us off balance.”

Dodgers starter Brandon McCarthy (fresh off his 10-day timeout on the DL) pitched well enough at the outset. The score was tied, 1-1, when Brandon Belt and Buster Posey led off the bottom of the fourth inning with singles, each sliced to the opposite fields.

Brandon Crawford drove in the first run with the hardest hit of the inning, a sharp ground ball down the first-base line that eluded a diving Chase Utley on its way into the right field corner, where it became an RBI double.

Eduardo Nunez followed with a soft ground ball through the middle that shortstop Corey Seager smothered in shallow center field while one run scored. Nunez’s bat was broken on the swing and part of it skittered out toward the pitcher’s mound where McCarthy focused on avoiding it then turned around in “disbelief it was going to get through.”

That left McCarthy in the middle of the diamond as Crawford hesitated rounding third. McCarthy cut off Seager’s throw, allowing Crawford to trot home and coming up empty in trying to catch Nunez between first and second. Nunez made it to second safely when second baseman Chris Taylor couldn’t scramble back to the base from center field in time.

“The mechanics of the play … he shouldn’t be in the middle of the field,” Roberts said of McCarthy. “He should have been behind home plate. That’s where the mechanics of the play got funky.”

Nunez quickly stole third base and scored on Christian Arroyo’s sacrifice fly.

“It was kind of a blur,” McCarthy said of the inning. “I just kept trying to make pitches and didn’t seem to make any headway.”

The Giants added another opportunistic run in the sixth – Arroyo walked, stole third and scored on Mac Williamson’s two-out, opposite-field single – to chase McCarthy and two more off reliever Grant Dayton in the seventh (including a solo home run by Posey).

It seemed like more than enough, but the Giants struggled to close it out. The Dodgers scored three times in the ninth, forcing Giants manager Bruce Bochy to use three relievers in the final inning to secure a fourth consecutive win (faint signs of a pulse for the Giants after a dreadful start to their season).

Dodgers roll over for Matt Cain, Giants in 8-4 loss

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