Kiké Delivers the Hammer as Dodgers Beat Giants 4-3 in San Francisco

For eight innings, the Dodgers and Giants played the kind of game that seemed destined to be decided by whoever blinked first.

Turns out, nobody needed to blink.

Kiké Hernández simply hit the ball over the fence.

Hernández led off the ninth inning with a go-ahead home run Saturday afternoon, breaking a 3-3 tie and lifting the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park.

It was Hernández’s fourth home run of the season and came one inning after San Francisco had erased Los Angeles’ lead with a two-out sacrifice fly.

The Giants had finally found a way to pull even.

Kiké had other ideas.

Tanner Scott then handled the bottom of the ninth for his second consecutive save opportunity, earning his 25th save of the season and preserving another one-run victory for the Dodgers.

Mookie Betts provided the first big blow of the afternoon.

With two outs in the third inning, Betts launched a home run into the left-center-field seats, giving Los Angeles its first hit of the game and sending the sizable contingent of Dodgers fans at the sellout crowd of 40,124 into a familiar state of celebration.

Miguel Rojas followed with an RBI single in the fourth, and Tommy Edman added another run-scoring single in the fifth as the Dodgers built a 3-1 advantage.

San Francisco kept hanging around.

Bo Davidson’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning against Evan Phillips brought the Giants even, setting up Hernández’s ninth-inning response.

And for a team that has spent much of the season making things considerably more complicated than necessary, the Dodgers managed to keep this one relatively simple:

Get the lead.

Lose the lead.

Get it back.

Game over.

Snell Gets His Work In

Blake Snell made his final regular-season tune-up before the postseason, working four innings and allowing one run on five hits.

The left-hander struck out three and walked nobody.

That last part may have been as important as anything else.

Snell was efficient, avoided the free pass and got his final scheduled work in before the Dodgers turn their attention fully toward October.

Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani continued working his way back into the everyday rhythm.

Ohtani started for the fourth consecutive day after missing 13 games with right biceps discomfort. He went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.

Not exactly an afternoon destined for the highlight reel.

But four consecutive games is more important right now than one particular line in the box score.

Another One for the Road

The victory pushed the Dodgers' road record to 48-32, the best mark in the majors.

It also extended their winning streak against San Francisco to seven games.

The Giants have now lost four straight and seven of their last eight.

Which means that whatever rivalry tension existed when these two teams arrived at Oracle Park has been somewhat one-sided lately.

The Dodgers will go for the sweep Sunday in the regular-season finale.

And if Saturday was any indication, the Dodgers aren't particularly interested in making their final trip around the Bay Area quietly.