Giants fall flat in first game of Dodgers series, 8-3

LOS ANGELES - Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson homered, doubled in a run and made a sparkling defensive play to deprive Angel Pagan of an RBI double, leading Los Angeles to an 8-3 victory against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night.

Pederson’s homer came in the sixth inning against George Kontos, and pinch-hitter Justin Turner added a three-run shot in the eighth off Yusmeiro Petit.

Brett Anderson failed to go the required five innings for a win after his teammates staked him to a 4-0 lead through four. Carlos Frias (1-0) relieved with two outs in the fifth and was credited with his second major league victory after pitching 1 1-3 innings and retiring Justin Maxwell on a comebacker with the bases loaded to end the Giants’ three-run fifth.

Tim Lincecum (1-2) gave up four runs, eight hits and three walks over four innings before he was lifted for a pinch hitter. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner’s fourth start of the season was delayed a day because of Sunday’s rainout in Colorado.

Carl Crawford led off the Dodgers’ second with a triple , but was stranded when right fielder Justin Maxwell, starting in place of injured Hunter Pence, made a diving catch of Jimmy Rollins’ sinking liner.

In the fourth, Howie Kendrick had an RBI single, then stole second, and Adrian Gonzalez scored when the throw from catcher Andrew Susac went into center field for an error. Scott Van Slyke singled as a pinch hitter for Crawford, who left the game because of tightness in his right side, and Los Angeles capped the rally with Juan Uribe’s RBI single and Pederson’s run-scoring double.

Anderson retired his first two batters in the fifth before giving up a walk to No. 8 hitter Brandon Crawford, a single by pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez, an RBI single by Nori Aoki and a run-scoring double by Joe Panik on Anderson’s 74th and final pitch.

Anderson was charged with three runs and five hits in 42/3 innings.

Pagan greeted Frias with a run-scoring infield hit up the middle that was smothered by second baseman Kendrick, preventing Panik from scoring the tying run. Frias then retired Maxwell to preserve the Dodgers’ one-run lead.

The game got off to an auspicious start defensively for both teams. Aoki was off and running on a drive to the warning track in center field by Pagan, and was already past second base when Pederson made an over-the-shoulder catch and easily doubled Aoki off first with the help of shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ relay throw.

In the bottom of the first, the Giants also turned a hard-hit ball into a double play as first baseman Buster Posey dove toward the line to snare Andre Ethier’s line drive and doubled off Rollins.

NOTES

Hunter Pence, sidelined since spring training because of a broken left forearm, might be taking batting practice by next week.

Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw will have a rematch tonight, five nights after they hooked up in San Francisco. Kershaw, the 2014 NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner, is 1-2 with a 1.95 ERA in four starts against the big lefty. Bumgarner is 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA in his matchups against Kershaw, who led the majors in ERA each of the past four seasons.