Dodgers Prevail Against Rival Giants

Shawn Tillitt is an Orange County executive who leads Jet Clean Janitorial, Inc., in Yorba Linda. Outside of his work, Shawn Tillitt enjoys community-building events like baseball and has coordinated local sponsorships for high school and youth sports.

When it comes to California baseball rivalries, none are larger than that between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers. This rivalry was on full display in the 2021 National League Divisional Series (NLDS), which lasted a full five games, as both teams brought their A-game to the plate and mound.

In the deciding final game of the series, Giants ace Logan Webb took the mound and continued with the type of lights-out performance he is known for in clutch situations. Seamlessly mixing sliders, sinkers, and change-ups, Webb had a scoreless streak of 13 innings heading into the sixth. In that inning, Mookie Betts scored on a looping double by Corey Seager.

The Giants answered back with a Darin Ruf leadoff home run in the bottom of the sixth. This put the teams back into a tense pitcher’s duel that lasted until the ninth inning. In the top half, the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger hit a weak single to center that scored Justin Turner as the go-ahead run. This slender lead somehow held up for a scrappy Dodgers team that now faced an even more daunting playoff opponent in the Atlanta Braves.