Clayton Kershaw and Justin Turner combined for the role of would-be stoppers but the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen, this time Scott Alexander, again wilted, and the San Francisco Giants mounted a two-out rally to earn a 5-2 comeback win.
It prevented the Dodgers from snapping their losing streak, which extended to four games, and also kept them from ascending a half-game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West standings.
Alexander allowed consecutive one-out singles then faced a scenario with two outs and the tying run at third base. The veteran southpaw began to overthrow and it cost him, as Alexander hit Austin Slater to load the bases.
It was a downward spiral from there as Nick Hundley lined the first pitch he saw into center field for a two-run single. Gorkys Hernandez extended the Giants lead with an RBI base hit that also knocked Alexander out of the game.
Kershaw answered the bell for the Dodgers from both the mound and plate as he matched the one run allowed with an RBI single. It was a bounce-back effort for Kershaw, as he notched just one strikeout in his previous outing.
Kershaw allowed a base hit to Andrew McCutchen to start the game but ended the first inning with a double play. He faced the minimum through two innings and stranded a one-out single and stolen base in the third by collecting back-to-back strikeouts.
That marked a string of eight Giants batters retired in a row. The streak was snapped by Steven Duggar’s leadoff single in the sixth inning, which was followed by a base hit from Bumgarner that put runners at the corners. The Giants’ lone run scored on a fielder’s choice.
Kershaw finished the night with nine strikeouts over eight innings, getting through his outing efficiently and retiring the final nine batters faced.
Though he was outdueled, Bumgarner was effective for much of the night. He too stranded a leadoff single in the first inning, then left two more on base in each the second and third innings.
Oddly enough, it was the slumping Austin Barnes who sparked a bit of a two-out rally. Kershaw’s flare into shallow left field resulted in Gorkys Hernandez and Brandon Crawford colliding, which allowed Barnes to break the scoreless tie by scoring on Kershaw’s double.
The Dodgers struck again in the fifth inning, behind Turner’s solo home run that extended his hitting streak to eight games and was proving to be the difference until Alexander allowed four runs in the ninth.
The win was the Giants’ sixth in the 11 head-to-head meetings between Kershaw and Bumgarner. Monday’s game was the first time the left-handers dueled since September 2016.
