Emmet Sheehan shines as Dodgers beat stumbling Giants – Press Enterprise

LOS ANGELES — If Emmet Sheehan is going to make the Dodgers’ postseason roster, it wouldn’t hurt his case to keep facing the San Francisco Giants.

Back in June, Sheehan threw six hitless innings in his major-league debut against the Giants. Facing them again Thursday night, Sheehan struck out eight of the first 10 batters he faced and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before losing touch with the strike zone, hitting a batter and walking three in a row.

Joc Pederson broke up the no-hitter with a solo home run in the sixth off Alex Vesia, but the Dodgers went on to beat the Giants, 7-2, for their sixth win in the past seven games.

Sheehan’s walk on the wild side in the fifth inning started when he hit Mike Yastrzemski with an 0-and-1 pitch. The rookie right-hander threw 23 pitches to the next three batters – with a visit from pitching coach Mark Prior thrown in – and walked all three, running his pitch count to 93, forcing in a run and forcing Manager Dave Roberts to pull a pitcher with a no-hitter going (in the fifth inning or later) for the seventh time in his eight seasons as Dodgers manager. Sheehan became the first pitcher to have it happen to him twice – that major-league debut in June and again Thursday night.

Despite the finish to his outing, Sheehan is likely already cemented in the Dodgers’ “It takes a village” approach to postseason pitching this year – as a ‘bulk’ pitcher in a bullpen game or ‘piggybacking’ with another starter.

In 16 innings this month, Sheehan has allowed six runs (five in one outing against the Washington Nationals) on 10 hits and four walks while striking out 24 (including a career-high nine Thursday).

Pederson broke up the no-hitter and tied the score with his 430-foot shot in the sixth inning, but the Giants were their own worst enemies after that.

In the bottom of the sixth, they gifted the Dodgers the go-ahead run. Center fielder Tyler Fitzgerald (making his major-league debut) made a diving attempt on Will Smith’s drive in the right-center gap. The ball went off his glove for a triple. J.D. Martinez lofted a routine fly ball to mid-range right field that Mike Yastrzemski caught nonchalantly – either forgetting that was only the second out of the inning or not expecting Smith to tag. Smith did tag and scored easily on Yastrzemski’s belated throw.

That gave the Dodgers the lead. They padded it in the seventh and eighth innings.

In the seventh, an error by third baseman J.D. Davis opened the door for two runs to score on wild pitches.

In the eighth, Martinez added his third RBI of the night when he drove in Freddie Freeman with a single in the eighth. Martinez had his fourth home run in four games and is 17 for 44 (.386) with five home runs and 17 RBIs in 12 games since returning from the injured list earlier this month.

More to come on this story.