Oct 2, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore (45) and third baseman Conor Gillaspie (21) and first baseman Brandon Belt (9) celebrate behind home plate against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the second inning at AT&T Park. Photo Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Left-hander Matt Moore pitched eight innings of shutout ball and batterymate Buster Posey drove in three runs with three hits on Sunday as the San Francisco Giants competed a three-game sweep of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers with a 7-1 win Sunday to capture the second wild-card playoff spot in the National League.
The Giants (87-75) will face the New York Mets (87-75) in the single-elimination wild card game on Wednesday in New York.
The Mets earned the home-field advantage in the game by virtue of their 4-3 season-series win over the Giants.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, will open the NL Division Series on the road Friday against the Washington Nationals.
Los Angeles clinched the NL West title last Sunday, then lost five of six this week to the San Diego Padres and Giants.
Moore, who took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of a game in Los Angeles on Aug. 25, was nearly as good on Sunday.
The three hits he allowed all came in the fourth inning, the first being a somewhat routine grounder up the middle by Justin Turner that Giants second baseman Joe Panik couldn’t find on a backhand try. It was ruled a hit.
The other two hits — by Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal — came with two outs in an inning that could have been over had Panik made his play.
Grandal’s single scored Turner with the Dodgers’ only run.
Moore (13-12) walked two and struck out six in his eight innings.
By the time the Dodgers scored their only run, the Giants had built a 5-0 lead against LA right-hander Kenta Maeda.
San Francisco wasted little time jumping on LA’s No. 3 starter, as a single by Denard Span, a double by Brandon Belt and a two-RBI single by Posey gave the Giants a 2-0 lead just six pitches into the game.
San Francisco then added three in the second after Conor Gillaspie followed a one-out single by Panik with a double.
Panik was thrown out at the plate on a safety-squeeze attempt by Moore for the second out, but Span then tripled in two runs and, after a Belt walk, Posey singled in Span to make it 5-0.
Maeda (16-11) didn’t make it out of the third inning, having allowed five runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 frames. He walked two and struck out three.
Maeda hadn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his previous 12 starts.
The Giants tacked on two runs against the Dodgers’ seventh pitcher, Joe Blanton, in the eighth. Hunter Pence and Brandon Crawford drove in the runs.
Span led off the inning with his third hit, a single, and scored a third run.
Pagan also had three hits for the Giants, who out-hit the Dodgers 16-4.
Belt added two hits for the Giants, who took the wild-card route to the World Series championship in 2014, opening with an 8-0 win at Pittsburgh.
The Dodgers, who began the day with the second-worst team batting average of any team against left-handed pitchers in the last 45 years (.215), went 0-for-3 in game results against lefties in the series, totaling four runs on 15 hits in matchups started by Madison Bumgarner, rookie Ty Blach and Moore.
NOTES: Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully called the final game of his 67-year career. The AT&T crowd gave him a standing ovation, after which he introduced the start of the game on tape over the public-address system, labeling the Dodgers and Giants “the greatest rivalry in all of professional sports.” … The Oakland Raiders took out a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday to pay tribute to Scully’s last game. … Giants manager Bruce Bochy said before the game that all pitchers except Friday starter LHP Madison Bumgarner and Saturday starter LHP Ty Blach were available for the regular-season finale, although he did note he hoped not to use RHP Jeff Samardzija, an indication he would start Monday in St. Louis if a wild-card tie-breaker game were necessary. … The Giants brought packed suitcases to the ballpark Sunday in case an after-game flight to St. Louis becomes necessary. … Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced a six-man outfield for his playoff roster: OF Andre Ethier, RF Yasiel Puig, RF Josh Reddick, CF Joc Pederson, OF Andrew Toles and LF Howie Kendrick.
