Clayton Kershaw came into the game against the Giants owning the lowest career ERA versus any single opponent, 1.40 against the Giants, with a minimum of 20 starts since 1912. It is safe to say the Giants did not want to see Kershaw and Kershaw dominated them once again. Kershaw picked up his major league leading 19th win of the season, going eight innings for his seventh consecutive start.
Kershaw gave up seven hits that led to two runs, but struck out nine batters. Kershaw walked one, leaving with his league leading ERA sitting at 1.70. Kershaw had seven of his nine strikeouts through five innings. Manager Don Mattingly visited Kershaw on the mound in the eighth, but the ace stayed in and completed another perfect inning. Closer Kenley Jansen came into the game in the ninth inning, slamming the door shut with two strikeouts on his way to a 42nd save. The Dodgers won the game 4-2, stretching their National League West division lead to three games, winning two of three in the series at San Francisco.
The Dodgers scored the first two runs of the game in the second inning, giving them 19 unanswered runs in the series after putting up 17 on the board yesterday. Hanley Ramirez led off with a single, and scored on two throwing errors after a single from Juan Uribe. Uribe moved to third on the errors, and was driven in on an A.J. Ellis sacrifice fly to right field.
The Giants cut the lead in half before the Dodgers struck for two more in the sixth inning. Adrian Gonzalez hit his 37th double, and scored on a Matt Kemp home run to center field for the 4-1 lead. Kemp tied Mike Piazza for fourth on the all-time Los Angeles Dodgers home run list with 177. Kershaw added a hit, joining six of his teammates that all recorded one hit. Dee Gordon was the only Dodger to have a multi-hit game, going 2-4 in the lead-off spot.
The Dodgers will continue to travel, heading to Colorado for three games with the Rockies as part of the 10 game road trip, their last of the regular season. Roberto Hernandez will open up the series at Coors Field on the mound for Los Angeles.