This time Dodgers stumble in extra innings, fall to Giants, 3-2

Well, at least they scored a couple of runs. That’s serious progress for the Dodgers in San Francisco.

Two runs, however, were not going to get it done Monday night. Not even with Zack Greinke on the mound and again throwing very well. Not on a night when the game went into extra innings and the champagne was left on ice.

The Dodgers lost this one, 3-2, at AT&T Park in the 12th inning to the Giants, who can be forgiven for actually starting to believe this division-race thing may not be over after all.

The victory continued to keep the Dodgers’ clinching efforts on hold, their magic number still at two. The Giants pulled to within five games of the National League West lead with six regular-season games remaining.

The Dodgers have three more games to play in San Francisco, where they are now 0-7 this season.

Both teams had several chances to win this one in extra innings. Finally, in the 12th, Yimi Garcia gave up two singles to put runners on the corners. The Dodgers brought in left-hander Adam Liberatore to face pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza, who promptly lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score the winning run.

The season on the line, and the game came down to guys named Liberatore and De Aza.

In their three previous games at AT&T, the Dodgers had failed to score a single run. They managed that feat in the third inning when Carl Crawford singled, stole second and scored on a Corey Seager base hit. Seager has reached base in each of his first 20 starts.

Alas, by then the Dodgers were already down 2-0, Greinke having made one mistake and paying for it. The Giants got two singles in the second and then a two-run double from rookie catcher Trevor Brown.

Those were three of only four hits Greinke allowed in his seven innings. His baseball-best earned-run average actually went up to 1.68. He was not involved in the final decision, his record remaining 18-3. Those are some brilliant numbers, but with the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta putting together a fantastic second half, they might not be enough for Greinke to hold him off for the NL Cy Young Award.

Greinke easily could have picked up the victory but the Dodgers’ suddenly anemic offense continued to stumble, this time against right-hander Jake Peavy. The Dodgers managed only three hits in his seven innings. Peavy walked one and struck out four. He was hardly overpowering, but he hit his spots and the Dodgers missed just about everything.

The Dodgers finally managed to score again but against the Giants’ bullpen. Trailing 2-1, they opened the ninth with singles by Seager and Adrian Gonzalez off left-hander Josh Osich. That sent a call for right-handed closer Santiago Casilla.

Justin Turner’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, and with the infield playing back, Andre Ethier hit a hard bouncer to second that drove in Seager to tie the score, 2-2.

Into extra innings it went, the Dodgers still needing to beat the Giants once to clinch the division.

The Dodgers have now lost eight of their last 10 games, and in the process, pretty much blown any hope of hosting the Mets in the opening round of the playoffs, if they get there.

The Dodgers now trail the Mets by two games for home-field advantage, which is effectively three games, because if they finish with the same record the Mets own the tiebreaker via the better head-to-head record.