Dodgers get just a tad too wild in 2-1 loss to Giants

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The Dodgers were not wild about Wednesday night’s game, just wild.

A little too wild at inopportune times in falling 2-1 to the Giants.

The Dodgers and Giants were locked in another scoreless pitching duel -- this time between Chad Billingsley and San Francisco’s Matt Cain -- when the Giants finally scored once in the seventh and then again in the eighth, both times aided by a wild pitch.

With the Padres losing Wednesday, the Giants pulled within a half-game of San Diego in in the National League West.

The Dodgers’ offense continued to shrink from sight. One night after managing only one hit, they came back Wednesday with four hits. Their last hit came on Andre Ethier’s solo home run in the ninth.

Billingsley nearly matched Clayton Kershaw’s brilliant shutout performance from Tuesday, blanking the Giants through six innings. To that point, the Giants had failed to score a run against the Dodgers in 15 consecutive innings.

The Giants threatened in the first, fifth and sixth innings, but each time Billingsley was able to turn them away.

Finally in the seventh, they pushed a run across after pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa lined a one-out double into the right-center gap.

Pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss went to third on a Billingsley wild pitch. After Eugenio Velez bounced back to Billingsley, Mike Fontenot’s broken-bat single to center scored Burriss.

Billingsley (11-10) went seven strong innings, giving up one run, six hits and a pair of walks. He struck out seven.

The Giants added a second run in the eighth after Aubrey Huff led off with a double against George Sherrill. Buster Posey was walked intentionally, before the call went to rookie reliever Kenley Jensen.

Jensen got Juan Uribe to fly out, but then threw a wild pitch that advanced both runners. Huff was then able to beat the throw home when Pablo Sandoval bounced to second for what proved the winning run.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, never really threatened to score until Ethier’s solo home run against Brian Wilson in the ninth. It was his 22nd homer of the season.

Cain (12-10) went seven innings for the Giants, blanking the Dodgers on three hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out five.

-- Steve Dilbeck