SAN FRANCISCO -- For his second start in the majors, Ty Blachs task was pretty simple: Beat Clayton Kershaw, boost San Franciscos playoff chances.Easy.The rookie left-hander outpitched Kershaw, and the Giants held onto their lead for the last NL wild-card spot going into the final day of the regular season, blanking the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 Saturday.Anytime you get the chance to go out there in a playoff race and give your team a chance, its a lot of fun, the 25-year-old Blach said. I appreciated the opportunity and tried to make the most of it.The Giants stayed one game ahead of St. Louis for the second NL wild-card slot. The Cardinals beat visiting Pittsburgh 4-3 earlier in the day.Matt Moore will start for the Giants on Sunday, and a win -- or St. Louis loss -- puts them in the playoffs. The New York Mets will host the NL wild-card game on Wednesday night.Were not getting too giddy here, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. We have work to do.Blach (1-0) earned his first big league victory, pitching eight innings of three-hit ball. He struck out six and walked one, and also got his first two hits.This was the fourth game in the majors for Blach since he made his major league debut in September.Thats one of the best pitching performances Ive seen, with this kid having a month in the major leagues, the stage he was on, whats at stake, who he was going against, Bochy said. He just had great focus and great command. This kid was locked in. Its hard to go pitch a better game than he did today.Sergio Romo pitched a hitless ninth for his fourth save.Kershaw (12-4) gave up three runs, two of them unearned, in seven innings. Angel Pagan homered in the fifth to break a scoreless tie.Kershaw is already set to pitch the opener in the best-of-five Division Series against Washington. The Dodgers loss gave the Nationals home-field advantage in that matchup.Were on a little bit of a slide here, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said following his clubs fourth loss in five games. Today wasnt a good day for the quality of at-bats. Some with the lack of familiarity (with Blach), but even with that I think we gave away a lot of at-bats.The Dodgers-Giants result was posted on the videoboard at Nationals Park in the seventh inning while Washington played Miami. It was announced that the Nationals had clinched the home field, and the crowd responded with a standing ovation.One day after gaining national attention for body-slamming a fan who had run onto the field, Pagan hit a 1-1 pitch from Kershaw into the left-field stands. It was Pagans 12th home run of the season and his first off Kershaw in 68 career at-bats.The Dodgers were limited to three singles and got only one runner to second base.Blach got Joc Pederson to ground into an inning-ending double play in the second after the Dodgers put two on, struck out the side looking in the third and retired 11 straight during one stretch.No matter how big the stage is, you have to go out and do the same thing as a pitcher, Blach said. I felt pretty good. We were able to get rolling in the first inning and after the second, with a couple guys on, was able to bounce back and just get into cruise mode from there and execute pitches.Los Angeles third baseman Justin Turner also committed a throwing error in the seventh when the Giants scored a pair of unearned runs off Kershaw.Kershaw retired 12 of the first 13 before Pagans one-out homer leading off the fifth.TRAINERS ROOMGiants: Eduardo Nunez ran on a treadmill but is all but certain to sit out the regular season finale and likely the wild card round of the playoffs. The team is optimistic that the veteran infielder can return if San Francisco gets deeper into the postseason.UP NEXTDodgers: Kenta Maeda (16-10) pitches the finale at AT&T Park on Sunday. The right-hander is unbeaten in three career starts against San Francisco.Giants: Moore (12-12) faces the Dodgers after matching his career-high of 11 strikeouts against Colorado in his previous start. Dan-Axel Zagadou Jersey . 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According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Sebastian Rode Dortmund Jersey . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. RIO DE JANEIRO -- British Open champion Henrik Stenson is close enough to think about adding an Olympic gold medal to his silver claret jug.He just took a long and wild route to get himself into contention on Friday.Marcus Fraser of Australia got off to a quick start, stretched his lead to four shots at one point, and wound up with a 2-under 69 for the 36-hole lead in the first Olympic golf competition since 1904. He had a one-shot lead over Thomas Pieters of Belgium, a former NCAA champion who closed with three straight birdies.Still, it was the sight of Stenson on the leaderboard that was hard to ignore.Only a month ago, the 40-year-old Swede won his first major and got his name on the claret jug at Royal Troon with the lowest score in major championship history. On Friday, he had a 68 to go into the weekend at Olympic Golf Course just two shots behind and in the final group.But this was hardly a masterpiece.In the wind and a hard rain, Stenson had to hit 4-wood to reach the green on the second hole and made a 60-foot birdie putt. He hit into the water on the next hole and still had a full 4-wood just to reach the front part of the green. Stenson made a par putt from 108 feet.Youre just standing there, praying for a two-putt bogey. Before I know it, it found the bottom of the cup, Stenson said. Thats the longest putt Ive made in my career. First of all, its hard to get a putt that long on any green in the world.He followed by duffing a tee shot and making bogey, and it was a relief to play what he called ordinary golf until another wild finish.Stenson had a three-putt bogey, followed by two birdies, and then a tee shot he missed so badly that it came up 30 yards short and into a bunker for a bogey on the par-3 17th. He finished his round with a delicate pitch from a drop area, but only after his caddie had to ask Brazilian fans in the bleachers around the 18th green to move 20 feet because their shadows were dancing around his golf ball.Three-under is not a bad score out there, especially not with that first five or six holes in those conditions, Stenson said. All in all, happy with that. I didnt play as solid as I did yesterday, but were still in the race and still in good position halfway through the tournament.Golf hasnt been ppart of the Games in 112 years, so none of these players grew up dreaming about an Olympic medal.ddddddddddddFor someone like Stenson, the highest-ranked player in the 60-man field, his current results are like getting through the preliminary heats in a traditional Olympic sport.Then again, not even he knows what to expect out of his game. No other Olympic sport has so many contenders.Its not like some of the other sports where if you jump a certain distance or swim at a certain time, you can pretty much figure out who is going to win and finish second and third, Stenson said earlier this week. Ours is a bit more down to the form for the week and on any given day.At the halfway point, Olympic golf was starting to take shape.Fraser was at 10-under 132 -- another day, another Olympic record. Of course, given how long the sport has been absent from the Games, new marks are being set every day. The Australian caught only a little of the nasty weather, and it didnt last long before the sun came out. Fraser built a four-shot lead before dropping two shots, including the reachable par-4 16th, where it took him two chips to reach the green.Playing with Stenson on Saturday could be intimidating, through Fraser saw it differently.Any time you play with Stenson on the weekend, you know youre doing something right.Pieters made up a lot of ground in a hurry by driving just through the green on the 16th for a two-putt birdie from 75 feet, holing a 15-foot birdie on the 17th and then two-putting from just off the green on the par-5 18th.Justin Rose of Britain and Gregory Bourdy of France each shot 69 and were four shots behind.The Americans, the only country with four players, were still lingering. Matt Kuchar had a 70 and was seven shots behind, following by Bubba Watson (67) at 2-under 140 and Patrick Reed (69) nine shots back.Rickie Fowler was still near the bottom. Even with actor Matthew McConaughey following along, Fowler made three bogeys on the back nine and had to settle for a 71, leaving him 14 shots out of the lead. Barring a low round Saturday, he likely will leave Rio with plenty of selfies, but no medals. ' ' '