Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the first inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The San Francisco Giants’ Jorge Soler, right, is tagged out byDodgers third baseman Chris Taylor after a single by LaMonte Wade Jr. during the first inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the first inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The San Francisco Giants’ LaMonte Wade Jr. dives safely back to second base in front of Dodgers shortstop Kike Hernández during the first inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers left fielder Miguel Vargas catches a line drive hit by the San Francisco Giants’ Heliot Ramos during the first inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell throws to the plate during the first inning of their game against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants second baseman Brett Wisely takes the throw before tagging the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani for an out during the first inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
San Francisco Giants second baseman Brett Wisely, second from right, tags out the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, right, on a stolen base attempt during the first inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani walks back to the dugout after striking out during the third inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani waits for a pitch during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández hits a solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández watches the flight of his solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández watches the flight of his solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández gestures to his dugout as he runs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández celebrates as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Hernandez drove in all the Dodgers’ runs in a 3-2 win. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández, left, has sunflower seeds tossed at him as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run during the fourth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Blake Snell throws to the plate during the fourth inning of their game against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan smiles as he walks off the mound after being relieved during the sixth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers relief pitcher Alex Vesia reacts after striking out the San Francisco Giants’ Matt Chapman during the sixth inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani grounds out during the sixth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. fields a throw from third baseman Matt Chapman during the sixth inning of their game against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., left, tags out the Dodgers’ Will Smith on a ground ball during the sixth inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández hits an RBI single during the sixth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman sprints home to score a run during the sixth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández celebrates at first base after his RBI single during the sixth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman celebrates in the dugout after scoring on a single by Teoscar Hernández during the sixth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., right, catches a foul ball hit by the Dodgers’ Andy Pages during the sixth inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., left, catches a foul ball hit by the Dodgers’ Andy Pages during the sixth inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
San Francisco Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. catches a foul ball hit by the Dodgers’ Andy Pages during the sixth inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The San Francisco Giants’ Tyler Fitzgerald gestures as he crosses home plate after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning of their game against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers relief pitcher Blake Treinen reacts after striking out the San Francisco Giants’ Luis Matos during the eighth inning on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Kike Hernández hits a double during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Kike Hernández runs after hitting a double during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Kiké Hernández celebrates after hitting a double during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Kiké Hernández celebrates after hitting a double during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani signals to a runner on second base during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández follows through on an RBI single during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández celebrates after hitting a go-ahead RBI single during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Kike Hernández celebrates after scoring a run during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández celebrates as first base after hitting an RBI single during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández, center, celebrates at first base after hitting an RBI single during the eighth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers relief pitcher Daniel Hudson throws to the plate during the ninth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Dodgers relief pitcher Daniel Hudson, left, shakes hands with catcher Will Smith after closing out their 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández celebrates after their 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers outfielders Teoscar Hernández, left, Andy Pages, center, and Jason Heyward celebrate after their 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan takes a moment before making his major league debut in the first inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Michael Mays, right, the son of former San Francisco Giants player Willie Mays, talks to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, before a game between the teams on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Michael Mays, left, the son of former San Francisco Giants player Willie Mays, joins the Giants during the national anthem before a game against the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
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Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan throws to the plate during the second inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Ryan pitched 5-1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run, in his major league debut. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
LOS ANGELES — Boy, that Home Run Derby sure did a number on Teoscar Hernandez’s swing.
Debunked numerous times over the years by research, the myth that players who participate in the Home Run Derby emerge with their swings ruined took another hit – actually three of them – with Hernandez’s night on Monday.
Hernandez celebrated the one-week anniversary of his Home Run Derby victory by driving in all three runs in a 3-2 Dodgers victory over the San Francisco Giants.
The win was the Dodgers’ fourth in a row since emerging from the All-Star break. Hernandez is 7 for 17 with two home runs since returning from the break.
“You know, I take the Home Run Derby not to ruin my swing,” said Hernandez, who was aware of the myth before heading to Texas. “I was trying to just take a regular batting practice, the same way I do when I take BP outside. So I wasn’t trying to do much, I wasn’t trying to change my swing and it’s working right now.”
It worked on a slider in off the plate in the fourth inning when he took Giants starter Blake Snell deep for a solo home run. It worked again when he drove in runs with two-out singles in the sixth and eighth innings. The eighth-inning RBI was his 27th this season with two outs in an inning, the most on the Dodgers and the fourth-most in the National League.
That eighth-inning RBI settled a typically close Dodgers-Giants game. Fifty-two of their meetings since the start of the 2015 season have been decided by one run.
“He just hunts and smells those ribbies and when you get a guy on second base, he’s trying to drive that run in. He values the runs batted in,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That ball (in the eighth inning) was dotted, down and away and it’s 98, 99 miles an hour and to not try to do too much with it and try to get a base hit and that’s how you win baseball games.”
A two-way player in college (where he hit .343 for UNC-Pembroke), River Ryan didn’t start pitching full time until after the Dodgers acquired him from the San Diego Padres in a spring 2022 trade for reserve outfielder Matt Beaty. He has moved quickly on the development conveyor belt in the Dodgers’ farm system to make his major-league debut on Monday night.
Ryan was the sixth rookie to start a game for the Dodgers this season. That group of novices has combined to start 44 games – mostly by Gavin Stone (18 starts) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14 before he went on the injured list). The rookies have combined for a 3.03 ERA and the Dodgers are 26-18 in their starts.
“It’s been huge. We’ve needed guys to step up and so far they’ve stepped up,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said.
“You expect them to go out there and compete. You expect them to be a little nervous, a little antsy. You expect them not to settle in right away. I’m just trying to help them manage that, get them through that. I thought he did a really good job tonight. From my perspective, it felt like he was comfortable on the mound and just making pitches.”
If there were nerves, they might have been evident in a walk to the first batter Ryan faced and a single allowed to the second. But left fielder Miguel Vargas looked more unsettled. He bobbled LaMonte Wade Jr.’s single, luring Jorge Soler to try and go first to third. Vargas threw him out at third then looked very shaky before catching Heliot Ramos’ routine fly ball at his feet for a second out.
Vargas and Ryan both settled in from there. Getting 10 swings-and-misses on a six-pitch repertoire, Ryan retired eight consecutive batters before walking Wade to start the fourth inning.
Things got messy from there. A Patrick Bailey single and a ground out put runners at second and third. A passed ball by Will Smith brought in an unearned run before Ryan struck out Mike Yastrzemski to avoid further damage.
Hernandez matched the run with his homer off Snell and gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead with his first RBI single in the sixth.
Ryan pitched into the sixth inning – the first time he has done so in his professional career – and became the first Dodgers starter to retire a batter in the sixth inning since Tyler Glasnow on July 5.
“Me and Doc were talking about that in the dugout,” Ryan said. “He said, ‘You looked a little tired out there in the sixth’ and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s the first time I ever went six innings.’ I was a little bit tired but I definitely felt I could have kept going.”
Ryan left the mound to a standing ovation – “the ground starts to shake a little bit when everybody gets loud, that was really fun to be a part of,” he said.
But Ryan Yarbrough gave up the lead on a solo home run by Tyler Fitzgerald in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers broke the tie in the eighth with some help from the Giants’ defense. Left fielder Luis Matos and center fielder Heliot Ramos converged on Kiké Hernandez’s drive to the warning track leading off the inning. But neither made a move to catch it. It bounced off the wall for a double.
Shohei Ohtani struck out, Smith walked and Freddie Freeman bounced into a force out, bringing up Teoscar Hernandez with two outs. He punched the go-ahead run-scoring single into center field.
“At the beginning of the season, I was not really good with men in scoring position,” Teoscar Hernandez said. “I think it was because I was trying to do too much, trying to overswing, trying to cover the whole plate. Right now it’s more having a plan and executing it the way I want to execute it and stick with it even if I don’t get the job done.
“I try to not think about it and to not put more pressure on myself. Just trying to calm myself down. Obviously I want those at-bats. I like to be in those situations, even if I strike out or miss the AB, I like that.”
