Adrian Gonzalez tracked the baseball as it exited the hand of San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner. He maintained his focus as his bat ripped through the strike zone, connecting with the slider and lining it up the middle. He did not turn away until it cleared the glove of shortstop Brandon Crawford, inches away from an out, and settled in center field for a two-run single.
“That’s his pitch,” Gonzalez said. “I was able to stay on it, stay through it, and luckily it got just over Crawford’s glove.”
In a 9-5 victory over the Giants, Gonzalez provided the go-ahead hit in the fifth. He pumped his fist at first base as Dodger Stadium erupted. The night displayed the relentless force of the offense. The Dodgers could not replicate Monday’s 18-run outburst, but they settled for a throttling of their lone division rival’s pitching staff.
The Dodgers toppled Bumgarner and taxed him for five runs and nine hits in five innings. The heart of the batting order — Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Gonzalez — went seven for seven against Bumgarner with a walk and a sacrifice fly.
“The 3-4-5 guys really came up huge for us,” Manager Dave Roberts said.
After Bumgarner departed, rookie Andrew Toles reignited the offense with an RBI double in the sixth and a two-run homer in the eighth.
Under duress most of the evening, Kenta Maeda gave up three runs during his five innings on the mound. The bullpen handled the rest.
The victory pushed the Dodgers (70-55) to a two-game lead over the Giants in the National League West. Manager Dave Roberts arrived at Dodger Stadium earlier than usual on Tuesday. He understood the importance of these three games, a series that could pull the Dodgers into a comfortable advantage heading into September — or return the Giants to first place.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Roberts said. “It’s the Dodgers and Giants.”
Roberts’ team reached an ignominious record before the game started. Scott Kazmir became the 27th Dodger placed on the disabled list this season, which matches a major league record set by the Boston Red Sox in 2012. The roster churned in the afternoon, with Kazmir and Brett Anderson placed on the DL.
The injuries left Maeda as the lone member of the starting rotation to not experience an injury this season. It was Maeda, of course, who signed a team-friendly, incentive-laden contract this winter due to irregularities in his physical related to his elbow and shoulder. The contract lasts eight years and guarantees Maeda only $3 million per season.
But the incentives have started to pile up. When Maeda climbed atop the mound Tuesday, he earned $1.5 million, a prize for making his 25th start of the season. Midway through the fourth inning, he reached the 140-inning mark for the season. That feat earned him $250,000 more. The bonuses brought Maeda’s tab for his rookie season to $9.15 million.
The offense handed Maeda a lead in the bottom of the first. Facing Bumgarner, a left-handed force, Roberts stripped his lineup of left-handed hitters. But he allowed rookie phenom Seager and the veteran Gonzalez to remain. Seager thumped a 1-1 slider off the wall for a two-out double. He scored when Justin Turner poked a curveball through the left side of the infield for a single.
Rookie Rob Segedin led off the second inning. His day was abnormal. He visited his wife, Robin, in the hospital where she was waiting to give birth to their first child. Segedin brought an heirloom with him, his first home run ball, which he swatted Monday in Cincinnati.
He would soon add to his collection. Bumgarner pumped a fastball over the heart of the plate. Segedin ripped the pitch over the left-field fence.
Maeda lost the lead in the third. An infield single by second baseman Joe Panik sparked the Giants. After a walk by outfielder Denard Span, Maeda became crossed up with catcher Yasmani Grandal while facing outfielder Angel Pagan, which led to a passed ball. Pagan shot an RBI single into center.
Maeda struck out first baseman Brandon Belt to pick up a second out. But catcher Buster Posey stroked a hanging curveball into center for a game-tying single.
An answer arrived in the bottom of the inning, thanks to the middle of the Dodgers’ batting order. Seager and Turner singled, with Seager reaching third. Gonzalez lifted a sacrifice fly for a 3-2 lead.
The Giants placed a sizable strain on Maeda. He needed 74 pitches to complete four innings. In the fifth, Pagan singled and took second on a wild pitch. San Francisco tied the game with a run-scoring double by Brandon Belt.
The deadlock did not last. With a runner at first base in the fifth, Seager vexed Bumgarner with a nine-pitch walk. Turner loaded the bases with an infield single, a cue shot toward third base, where Giants infielder Eduardo Nunez flubbed a barehand grab.
Up came Gonzalez. The day before, he smashed three homers and set a career-high with eight RBI. He would settle for a more reasonable result here, skimming the go-ahead single over Crawford’s glove.
“It was a big, big team offensive effort today,” Gonzalez said. “Everybody swung the bat great. Just having good at-bats up and down the lineup.”
andy.mccullough@latimes.com
Twitter: @McCulloughTimes
Dodgers take series opener by pummeling Madison Bumgarner and the Giants, 9-5 – Los Angeles Times