Giants top Dodgers 6‑2 behind Houser’s solid start
LOS ANGELES (Interstat) — Harrison Bader and Eric Haase hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning, turning a one-run deficit into a lead the San Francisco Giants never relinquished in a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night.
Bader tied the game with a two-strike solo shot to left field, his second homer of the season and first since March 30. Haase followed immediately with his second home run of the night, a fly ball to left-center, to give the Giants a 3-2 advantage. The two-out blasts came off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had not allowed three homers in a game before Tuesday. All three long balls came from the eighth and ninth spots in the Giants’ order with two outs.
Haase had already given San Francisco a 1-0 lead in the third inning when he led off the frame with a solo homer to left-center, his first since May 7, 2025. That tied the game after Los Angeles had scored once in the first.
The Dodgers struck first in the bottom of the first. Shohei Ohtani led off with a single, moved to second on a Freddie Freeman single and advanced to third when Kyle Tucker was hit by a pitch. Will Smith followed with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Ohtani for a 1-0 lead. The Dodgers added another run in the third when Ohtani crushed his seventh home run of the season to left-center, making it 2-1.
San Francisco’s comeback began quietly. Yamamoto had retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced before Haase’s solo homer in the third. After Ohtani answered in the bottom half, the game remained 2-2 until the Giants’ fifth-inning outburst.
Yamamoto settled in briefly, striking out Willy Adames and getting Bryce Eldridge on a groundout to start the fifth. Bader then launched a 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall, and Haase followed by driving the next pitch to the opposite field for back-to-back jacks. The Giants added three more runs in the seventh inning to break the game open.
Heliot Ramos led off the seventh with a double to left. Adames singled, putting runners at the corners. After Eldridge lined out, pinch-hitter Drew Gilbert laid down a bunt single that deflected off first baseman Freddie Freeman, scoring Ramos and sending Adames to second. Haase then flied out to deep center, but Jung Hoo Lee doubled down the right-field line, scoring Adames and Gilbert for a 5-2 lead. Blake Treinen intentionally walked Luis Arraez, but Casey Schmitt grounded out to end the inning.
That was more than enough for Giants starter Adrian Houser, who earned his first win of the season. Houser allowed two runs on three hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking three. He worked out of trouble in the second inning, striking out the side after a leadoff walk. In the fifth, he induced a double play from Mookie Betts to erase a one-out walk to Ohtani.
Caleb Kilian picked up his second save of the season, retiring all four batters he faced over the final inning and a third. He entered with two on and one out in the eighth and got Max Muncy to strike out looking and Andy Pages to line out, ending the threat. Kilian then worked a perfect ninth, striking out Teoscar Hernández on a pitch that survived a challenge and getting Hyeseong Kim and Ohtani on groundouts.
Matt Gage recorded one out in the sixth, striking out Tucker, and Joel Peguero finished the sixth with a groundout. Sam Hentges pitched a scoreless seventh, allowing a hit and striking out two.
Yamamoto took the loss, falling to 3-3. He allowed five runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight. Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Los Angeles, and Blake Treinen recorded one out but allowed two inherited runners to score in the seventh.
San Francisco outhit Los Angeles 10-4. Haase led the Giants with two home runs and two RBIs, finishing 2 for 4. Lee went 2 for 5 with two RBIs, including the two-run double in the seventh. Ramos doubled and scored a run, and Adames singled twice. For the Dodgers, Ohtani singled and homered, and Freeman had a single and two walks. Tucker doubled in the eighth but was left stranded.
Attendance at Dodger Stadium was announced as 50,029. The game lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes.
The Giants improved to 18-24, while the Dodgers dropped to 24-18. San Francisco, which won 9-3 in the series opener Monday, has taken the first two games of the three-game set.
Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Los Angeles Dodgers 4, San Francisco Giants 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Dodgers a 68.80 percent probability to win. Los Angeles was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of 8 runs went over the over/under line of 8.5.