Timeless Kershaw flummoxes SF Giants one more time in loss to Dodgers

With 5 shutout innings, Kershaw improves to 26-15 all-time vs. SF, lowers career ERA vs. Giants to 1.99

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw has faced the San Francisco Giants more times than any other team, and he took the mound at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, possibly for the last time. The future Hall of Famer’s status after this season is unknown. He’s had injuries. His fastball isn’t what it used to be. He’s a unique pitcher.

However, for his longtime opponents, the results were all too familiar in front of 52,704 on hand to watch him potentially one last time (at least in the regular season).

Kershaw easily dispatched his flailing opponents, blanking the Giants for five innings while the Dodgers sent them to their seventh loss in nine games on this road trip, 7-0, with not even a fastball that registered 90 mph on the radar gun. His fastest heater reached 89.7 mph.

“I think what I find most interesting about Clayton is that he doesn’t necessarily have to throw 94,” manager Gabe Kapler said afterwards. “I was actually talking to some of the younger players about the honor of facing a pitcher of that caliber, one of the best pitchers of our generation, one of the best pitchers of all-time, but he does it with a craftiness that is really second to none.”

The clearest indication of Kershaw’s demise came not from anything the Giants did, as he only allowed two hits and two walks in five innings, but from the fact that his night ended after only five frames and 76 pitches. Kershaw left without allowing a run for the 12th time in 56 career starts against the Giants, but it was the first time he left before the sixth inning — five times taking it all the way.

“The slider-curveball-fastball combination keeps you off balance and spots it up, and even at 88-90 mph, he can shut you down like he did today,” Kapler explained.

Kershaw needed five shutout innings to lower his ERA in 58 career games against the Giants to under 2.00. His career high is now 1.99. He’ll face them again next weekend at Oracle Park, where he’s dominated them even more, with a 15-6 record and 1.64 ERA.

“I don’t know how old he is, but he’s been doing it forever,” said Jakob Junis, the Giants’ planned bulk-innings pitcher until he was forced to leave due to neck tightness. “As you can see, his numbers remain insane. Possibly the greatest pitcher of all time. Unfortunately, he has very good numbers against us as well.”

Kershaw has faced four active players more than Brandon Crawford, but was denied another matchup when Crawford was injured prior to this series. Crawford has 14 strikeouts, no extra-base hits, and a.125 batting average in 51 plate appearances against Kershaw.

Inexperienced shortstop Kershaw made his MLB debut in 2008, when Marco Luciano was six years old. When asked after the game if he was familiar with Kershaw’s dominance against the Giants, Luciano smiled and said simply, “No.”

He led off the fifth inning with a double off Kershaw, the only one of the Giants’ two hits to leave the infield. Luciano was also responsible for San Francisco’s best-struck ball, which left the bat at 107.4 mph for the second straight game.

“Of course I know who he is,” Luciano said of Kershaw, speaking through a Spanish interpreter. “However, once the game begins, I just see him as another pitcher.” I know he’s fantastic. In my mind, all I want to do is compete.”

After Kershaw walked Luis Matos for the second time, the Giants had two on and no outs, but Tyler Fitzgerald struck out, Patrick Bailey grounded out to third, and David Peralta made a sliding catch, turning a potential extra-base hit from Austin Slater into the third out of the inning.

Kershaw pointed to left field while raising both arms in the air. His day had come to an end.

After Kershaw’s first walk to Matos and an infield single from Bailey in the third, the Giants also had runners at first and second but were unable to score. Thairo Estrada grounded out to third after Austin Slater watched strike three (which appeared to be an inch or two below the strike zone). They went hitless in five chances with runners in scoring position, leaving four men on base, and only put one man on base in four innings against the Dodgers bullpen.

“What we didn’t do well enough was make sure that fastball was in the middle of the plate,” said Kapler. “Because (Kershaw) keeps that slider in (and) off or down below the zone, you really have to lay off that pitch.” We simply did not do a good enough job. We’ll have to do better than that if we want to beat the best.”

With the Cubs’ earlier-in-the-day victory, the Giants’ elimination count fell to four. With seven games remaining, they are four games back and closer to falling into fourth place in the NL West than overtaking Chicago for the final wild card spot. The Padres lost for the first time in nine games, or they would have tied.

Kapler chose a bullpen game against Kershaw, but things quickly went awry.

The original starter, John Brebbia, who was pitching for the first time since suffering a lat strain in June, breezed through a 1-2-3 first inning but was pulled for a second. J.D. Martinez hit his second home run of the series with a first-pitch slider into the right-field bleachers. Martinez struck again against Jakob Junis in the third inning, this time doubling home a pair of runs put on base by Taylor Rogers.

Junis settled in to retire the next four batters, with the intention of pitching deeper, but he was forced out of the game due to neck tightness. It had been bothering him since the team’s trip to Chicago earlier this month, but it acted up enough to keep him out of the game.

“Pretty much every throw I made, it was grabbing, and I could tell it was messing with my mechanics,” Junis explained. “It stiffened up, and I just didn’t feel like it was worth risking going out there again for that next inning.”

Ross Stripling took over in the fifth inning and allowed the first four batters he faced to reach base, eventually allowing four more runs on seven hits and three walks over the next four innings.

The Giants finish the series and their road trip on Sunday night (4:10 p.m. PT) on ESPN. They are 6–27 in their last 33 road games and 34–46 overall when playing away from Oracle Park. Los Angeles will start Lance Lynn, while San Francisco will start Ryan Walker, with Tristan Beck likely to fill in for him.