Giants beat Dodgers again behind Patrick Bailey's 3-run blast, Tyler Mahle's best start yet
Looking at the matchup beforehand, you'd be forgiven for thinking Shohei Ohtani was the one to watch. And he was, of course he was. But Tyler Mahle, despite an ERA nearly seven runs higher than all-world Ohtani, turned in a magnificent outing, too.
And once Ohtani was out of the game, an unlikely offensive hero emerged for the San Francisco Giants: Patrick Bailey, off to a terrible start to his season, belted a three-run homer in the seventh to down the Dodgers 3-0 and give Mahle his first win with the Giants.
The Giants have won five of their past six since getting snippy in a series at Cincinnati, and the Dodgers, the beasts of the West, have dropped four of their past six while the Padres have caught up to them atop of the division. The Giants are the first team to shut them out this season and have allowed them only one run in the series; San Francisco also ended Ohtani's on-base streak at 53-games, tied for second longest in Dodgers history with Shawn Green.
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With men at second and third after Drew Gilbert's sacrifice bunt. Bailey stepped to the plate batting .140 overall, with zero hits against left-handed pitching on the season. His blast came off Dodgers lefty Jack Dreyer, his second hit in four career at-bats against the reliever. Bailey was behind in the count 1-2 when Dreyer left a slider over the plate that he drilled a106 mph drive out to left-center for his first homer of 2026. The bat flip? Earned.
"When they showed the replay, that was a cocky swing," manager Tony Vitello said. "I'm not talking about celebrating the home run. It was a confident, slow, cocky swing."
Giants 3, Dodgers 0
Los Angeles
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
31
0
4
0
3
5
Ohtani p-dh-dh
4
0
0
0
0
1
.258
Tucker rf
4
0
0
0
0
1
.233
Smith c
3
0
0
0
1
0
.267
Freeman 1b
4
0
2
0
0
0
.299
Hernández lf
4
0
0
0
0
1
.256
Muncy 3b
3
0
1
0
1
0
.293
Pages cf
3
0
0
0
1
1
.353
Kim ss
3
0
0
0
0
1
.300
Rojas 2b
3
0
1
0
0
0
.368
San Francisco
AB
R
H
BI
BB
SO
Avg.
Totals
31
3
8
3
0
8
Adames ss
4
0
0
0
0
2
.237
Arraez 2b
4
0
1
0
0
0
.300
Chapman 3b
4
0
1
0
0
2
.295
Devers 1b
4
0
2
0
0
0
.237
Schmitt dh
4
0
0
0
0
2
.282
Lee rf
3
1
1
0
0
1
.262
Ramos lf
3
1
2
0
0
0
.274
Gilbert cf
2
0
0
0
0
1
.238
Bailey c
3
1
1
3
0
0
.155
Los Angeles
000
000
000_0
4
0
San Francisco
000
000
30x_3
8
0
LOB: Los Angeles 7, San Francisco 5. 2B: Devers (3). HR: Bailey (1), off Dreyer. RBIs: Bailey 3 (4). S_Gilbert.
Runners left in scoring position: Los Angeles 2 (Hernández, Kim); San Francisco 3 (Schmitt 3). RISP: Los Angeles 0 for 3; San Francisco 1 for 3.
Los Angeles
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Ohtani
6
5
0
0
0
7
91
0.38
Dreyer, L, 1-1
1
3
3
3
0
0
18
4.35
Hurt
1
0
0
0
0
1
11
3.00
San Francisco
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
NP
ERA
Mahle, W, 1-3
7
3
0
0
2
5
91
5.26
Kilian, H, 2
1
1
0
0
0
0
13
0.82
Walker, S, 3-4
1
0
0
0
1
0
16
3.27
Umpires: Home, Jordan Baker; First, Rob Drake; Second, Stu Scheuwater; Third, Junior Valentine.
T: 2:08. A: 40,277 (41,915).
"I'm OK with that," Bailey said of the characterization. "Better than timid."
Bailey has form against the Dodgers: He entered the series batting .288 against them with two homers and 13 RBIs in his past 19 games, including a grand slam last September. And adding to his rep for big hits in big moments, he's a career .262 hitter with runners in scoring position.
Even so, after having Gilbert bunt the runners over, did Vitello consider pinch hitting for Bailey, given his rough start to the season?
"No," he said. "I think part of it had to do with what he was doing behind the plate for us in a game that was clearly kind of a war of attrition, almost."
Vitello and his staff also felt that Bailey would put the ball in play and get at least one run in. Instead, he provided all of the scoring on the day. Plus, hot-hitting catcher Daniel Susac is on the IL with an elbow issue. Speaking about the duo, Vitello said, "One was going about as good as you can go offensively, and one was probably literally at the floor - but he's had big moments late in games here against some pretty damn good arms."
"It's huge, the confidence that he has in that situation in me, that means a lot to me," Bailey said. "Obviously, I've had a history of coming through those situations, and I'm glad he's got faith in me."
It was just the second homer batting right-handed for Bailey since the start of the 2024 season - the other was the slam against L.A. Since 2010, he Buster Posey and Juan Uribe are the only Giants players with multiple go-ahead homers in the 7th inning or later against the Dodgers
A day after holding the Dodgers to three hits, San Francisco allowed them just four. Asked if that was the result of Giants pitching or the Dodgers' recent offensive dip, Ohtani said, with Will Ireton interpreting, "It's a bit of both. They've executed well the past two games. At the same time, including myself, I could have been more creative in the at-bats we're going through. Even with limited opportunities, we should be able to score."
Mahle worked seven innings in his best start by far to date for the Giants. He entered the game with a 7.23 ERA that looked glaring next to Ohtani's 0.50 - not a misprint. Ohtani lowered that number down to 0.38 with his six scoreless.
"It looked like he was going for throats," Vitello said of Ohtani. "It was pretty good stuff."
Mahle said the key for him was just making pitches. The only real drama came in the fourth, when the Dodgers had men at second and third with one out after Max Muncy knocked a ball of Luis Arraez's glove at second for a single and Arraez made an off-line throw to third trying to get Freddy Freeman, allowing Muncy to race to second. But with the infield in, Andy Pages hit a sharp bouncer to Rafael Devers at first, and Devers winged it to Bailey, who chased Freeman back near third where Muncy was already standing. Hyeseong Kim then hit a chopper to Arraez's left and he made a slick play with a snapping motion, firing to first to end the inning.
Ohtani struck out the side in the first, but allowed hits to Arraez and Devers. Then, nothing for three innings. Ohtani retired 11 in a row before Heliot Ramos' single in the fifth. In the sixth, the Giants got their first runners in scoring position since the first, when with two outs, Matt Chapman singled and Devers ripped a double down the line. Ohtani, though, struck out Casey Schmitt and spun around on the mound, pumping his fists.
Logan Webb (2-2, 5.10) will start Thursday's game with a shot to help the Giants sweep the Dodgers. Tyler Glasnow (2-0, 3.24) is pitching for Los Angeles.
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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 2:04 AM.