• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

SF playoff hopes flickering after beating Dodgers

Sep 22, 2011 - 6:59 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Justin Christian went 3-for-5 with three RBI and fellow rookie Brett Pill had three hits and drove in a pair to keep the Giants pushing towards a playoff spot with an 8-5 win over the Dodgers.

The Giants' offensive turnaround over their 9-1 stretch may be a little too late though, as they trail the NL wild card-leading Braves by 3 1/2 games and the NL West-leading Diamondbacks by 5 1/2 with seven to play.

Ryan Vogelsong (12-7) went the minimum five innings to earn the win, allowing four runs on nine hits and one walk.

Dana Eveland (2-2) entered with a 0.84 earned-run average against the Giants but lasted just four innings after getting tagged for five runs on six hits.

Los Angeles, which came in riding a four-game winning streak, cut into a 5-0 deficit with a four-spot in the fifth, as Jamey Carroll singled in a run and Matt Kemp belted a three-run homer over the wall in left-center.

"I was upset I gave some runs back, but we're swinging the bats well and did a good job of scoring runs," Vogelsong said.

Josh Lindblom gave up an RBI bloop single to Christian in the sixth, and Hong- Chih Kuo yielded a pair of runs in the seventh on Pill's RBI double and Mark DeRosa's sacrifice fly.

The Dodgers got a run in the ninth off James Loney's single, but Brian Wilson stranded a pair by getting Aaron Miles on a pop out to center to secure his 36th save.

"We got back in the game, we made a run, but then they bounced back and that hurt," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

San Francisco got three two-out runs in the first on Pill's run-scoring single and Mike Fontenot's two-RBI base hit.

Christian's double to the gap in the fourth brought in two more for a 5-0 cushion.

Game Notes

Vogelsong has gone 6-1 in 13 games -- 12 starts -- on the road this year...Giants reliever Sergio Romo extended his scoreless streak to 21 1/3 innings frames with two strikeouts in the eighth.