The San Francisco Giants continue their dominance in the opening home series for the Los Angeles Dodgers, winning 7-2 with an excellent performance from Madison Bumgarner on the mound while Michael Morse and Buster Posey added plenty of firepower with their bats.

The Dodgers did have Yasiel Puig back in the lineup after getting benched for the first game, but he didn’t do anything too impressive, finishing with 1-for-4 and yet another example of just how bad his timing and decision making is when trying to steal bases, getting picked off in the 3rd.

Bumgarner in his second game of the season was very dominant through 6.1 innings, allowing two runs but striking out 10 batters and giving up 8 hits. It was the 14th time in his career with 10 strikeouts or more, tied with Tim Lincecum for the second-most by any Giants pitcher younger than 25 that debuted since 1900.

On the other end, for the Dodgers, it was a very rough game for Paul Maholm. In his first game of the season, he lasted less than five full innings by allowing 7 hits and five earned runs, with Morse and Pablo Sandoval (three-run homer) hitting home runs off of him in the 4th and 5th innings. When Buster Posey hit his big one for 395 feet it was Jose Dominguez at the plate, trying to clean up the mess Maholm left for him.

Sandoval was incredibly difficult for Maholm and the Dodgers pitching crew, taking 25 pitches in the process. He finished with 1-of-3 at bats and getting to walk a couple of times, yet still finishing with just one run that came of his homer. Posey finished with 2-for-5 and his hitting a .381 to start off the season. Angel Pagan had another good game as leadoff with 2-for-4 including one RBI, improving to .407 hitting so far this season.

The Dodgers got hits (9-for-33) but couldn’t make the most of the situations they had. Juan Uribe hit a double that gave the team their first points in the second inning, but only in the 7th inning, with the Giants in front 7-1, did Andre Ethier, pinch hitting for Justin Turner, get another runner to reach home plate with his only appearance at the plate in the game.. Matt Kemp struggled some more with 0-for-4, dropping to .125 batting so far this season.

The Giants improved to 5-1 this season, all on away games, and will have Matt Cain pitching in the third game of the series, who finished without a decision on his first start of the season. Zack Greinke will be throwing for the Dodgers. He’s 1-0 and a 3.60 ERA after his first game this season against the Padres. It should be one interesting duel.

We’ve always had a good defensive team, and we’re starting to swing the bats now. So we’re a pretty well-rounded team. Today the bullpen came in and did a great job, and the offense was unbelievable again. It’s nice to have that kind of support. It makes it easier to go after guys and challenge them.

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