SAN FRANCISCO — Coming off consecutive series losses at St. Louis and Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Dodgers needed some sort of spark as August approaches. They found it in the ballpark of their biggest rival and left the Bay Area in first place following an emphatic three-game swing.
Carl Crawford hit an RBI triple to back Hyun-Jin Ryu’s third straight victory, and division-leading Los Angeles beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 Sunday night to establish some momentum behind their pitching and offense.
In his Giants debut, Jake Peavy threw a pair of wild pitches in the fifth as the Dodgers went ahead on Hanley Ramirez’s RBI single ahead of Crawford’s triple to the corner in deep right field.
San Francisco suffered its first three-game sweep in the rivalry since June 24 to 26, 2013, at Dodger Stadium. The last Dodgers sweep at AT&T Park came July 27 to 29, 2012.
Peavy (0-1) pitched a day after being traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Giants for a pair of minor league pitchers, reuniting him with former manager Bruce Bochy. Peavy pitched for Bochy and the Padres in the playoffs in 2005-06.
Bochy stuck with the right-hander to get through the sixth after he allowed a leadoff walk to Juan Uribe. Peavy drew regular roars from a lively sellout crowd at AT&T Park as fans found plenty to cheer for after a frustrating few days.
He allowed six hits and four runs — three earned — struck out five and walked two in six innings.
Peavy dropped to 14-3 with a 2.28 ERA in 26 starts against Los Angeles, including a three-hitter last Aug. 25 at Dodger Stadium in which he struck out five and walked one.
