LOS ANGELES _ It was the kind of moment Cody Bellinger has lived for this season. Bases loaded, two outs in the fifth inning, his team down by a run, two-ball count, a chance to change the game with one swing, a Dodger Stadium crowd of 53,870 serenading him with chants of "MVP! MVP!"
The scene perfectly set for Bellinger, the slugger took two healthy hacks against San Francisco starter Tyler Beede. The first produced a foul ball, the second a lazy fly ball to left field to end the inning, the rally fizzling like the Dodgers' offense in a 1-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.
The magic number for the Dodgers to clinch their seventh straight National League West title remained stuck at four, meaning the earliest they can clinch is Tuesday in Baltimore against the Orioles. Their edge over the Atlanta Braves for home-field advantage in a potential NL championship series was reduced to 2{ games.
"We are gonna clinch at some point in time," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, his hand nowhere near the panic button. "We just have to play a complete baseball game, and those things will take care of themselves."
The Dodgers did not play a complete game Saturday night. They got a decent four-inning start from Tony Gonsolin and some stout relief, but they managed only four hits against Beede, who threw five scoreless innings, and none against six Giants relievers.
Gonsolin survived a wobbly first inning in which he gave up one run despite giving up two hits, walking two and throwing 39 pitches, recovering from the 20-minute frame to throw three hitless innings.
The rookie right-hander was pulled after four innings, his pitch count at 88. His final line _ four innings, two hits, one earned run, four walks, five strikeouts _ neither extended a two-week slump by the Dodgers rotation nor snapped it.
The team's starting pitchers entered Saturday with a major league-best 3.16 ERA and 1.07 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched), but in 15 games since Aug. 23, the rotation has given up 43 earned runs in 702/3 innings for a 5.48 ERA.
The stretch includes eight starts from three pitchers who are expected to lead the postseason rotation _ Hyun-Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw _ and 10 by rookie catcher Will Smith, who won the starting job with his hot bat but has yielded a 6.56 ERA (35 runs in 48 innings) to the starters during the stretch.
"There's a learning curve," Roberts said of Smith, who played his 41st big league game Saturday night, "but the responsibility is on all of us. The more repetitions, innings, you get with each pitcher, the more familiarity, trust and confidence you get in him, and that works both ways.
"That will enhance the rhythm of the game, the execution, all that stuff. Yeah, we're in a little bit of a funk as far as our starters, but I think if you look at any starting staff in baseball, we all go through it, so I don't think it's something we're not going to overcome."
Gonsolin struggled to find his rhythm in the first. Mike Yastrzemski led off the game with a bloop single that dropped between right fielder Joc Pederson and second baseman Gavin Lux. Brandon Belt popped out to shortstop, but Evan Longoria walked, and Stephen Vogt singled to right to load the bases.
Kevin Pillar's dribbler to third scored Yastrzemski for a 1-0 lead as Pillar was thrown out at first. Brandon Crawford walked to load the bases, prompting left-hander Caleb Ferguson to begin warming in the bullpen.
But Gonsolin struck out Austin Slater to end the inning.
Gonsolin found his bearings in the second, walking one in a 16-pitch scoreless inning in which center fielder Enrique Hernandez caught two fly balls at the wall. He retired the side in order with a strikeout in a 15-pitch third and struck out three and walked one in an 18-pitch scoreless fourth.
The Dodgers threatened in the second when Bellinger walked and took second on Lux's one-out walk. Hernandez drove a ball to the wall in left-center, where Pillar made a running catch for the second out.
Smith followed with a grounder that appeared headed into the left-field corner before Longoria, the Giants third baseman, made a diving backhand stop. Smith reached on an infield single, but Longoria probably saved two runs on the play. Gonsolin struck out on three pitches to end the inning.
