The San Francisco Giants played streak-busters in their 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw entered 10-0 with a 0.65 ERA in his past 11 home starts, the Dodgers were on a four-game winning streak, and Justin Turner had an MLB-best 16-game hitting streak.
There were early signs Kershaw did not have his usual sharpness, punctuated by his allowing two home runs over six innings. Hunter Pence’s two-run homer gave the Giants the lead in the first inning.
Pence began the night 7-for-70 without an extra-base hit and 17 strikeouts in his career against Kershaw.
Johnny Cueto ran into some trouble in the bottom of the first, allowing a leadoff single to Andrew Toles and walking Corey Seager. Turner nearly extended his hitting streak to 17 games but his fly ball was caught in front of the right-field wall.
Toles did manage to advanced to third base on the play, which paid off as Michael Morse threw low to second base after fielding a grounder and stepping on first. The Giants’ inability to turn a double play allowed Toles to score.
Cody Bellinger led off the second inning with a ground-rule double to right field. In another display of his athleticism and speed, Bellinger was cruising into third base before realizing the play had exited the field of play.
The Dodgers were on the verge of stranding him at second base, when Kershaw helped himself with an opposite-field RBI single. To Bellinger’s credit, he avoided Buster Posey’s tag with a crafty slide.
Kershaw started the third by striking out Christian Arroyo, but two batters later surrendered a line-drive home run to Posey. That was after Pence nearly took him deep for his second homer of the game.
Cueto breezed through the third and fourth innings, retiring the side in order both times. Whereas Kershaw helped his cause in the second, he inflicted damage in the fifth. After fielding an Eduardo Nuñez bunt, Kershaw throw low to first base and the ball got by Adrian Gonzalez.
Nuñez wound up on second base and later scored on Arroyos’ RBI single, extending the Giants’ lead to 4-2. Kershaw did manage to strand Nuñez in the sixth after allowing a two-out double.
Meanwhile, Cueto continued to mow was his way through the Dodgers lineup. The veteran right-hander retired 13 in a row after Kershaw’s RBI base hit. Cueto’s streak was snapped when Gonzalez reached on an infield single to lead off the bottom of the seventh.
Bellinger then dropped down a bunt to beat the shift, putting two on with nobody out. Chris Taylor’s pinch-hit RBI single with two outs trimmed the Dodgers’ deficit to 4-3.
Kershaw’s night came to an end at 104 pitches over six innings, with four runs (three earned) allowed on four hits (two home runs), and five strikeouts. Sergio Romo and Josh Fields combined to give the Dodgers three scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Giants reliever Steven Okert tossed a scoreless eighth inning and retired Gonzalez and Bellinger in the ninth. Derek Law then struck out Puig to earn the save in the Giants’ 4-3 win.
