Madison Bumgarner Outduels Clayton Kershaw As NL West Flip-Flop Continues

For the fourth time in four starts against the Giants this season, Clayton Kershaw allowed no more than two runs. But he suffered his third loss to San Francisco this year thanks to Madison Bumgarner, who shut down the Dodgers Monday night in a 2-1 win in the series opener at Dodger Stadium.

With the win, the Giants moved back into first place in the National League West by a half-game over the Dodgers. The two teams have exchanged spots in the standings three times in the last four days.

Both starting pitchers were phenomenal, as each struck out 10 and walked nobody on the night in eight innings. But Kershaw allowed two runs, two more than Bumgarner gave up.

Both leadoff batters in the first inning drove a pitch to the wall. Angel Pagan hit one up against the wall in the left center field that wasn't caught, for a double, and Shane Victorino hit one near the Dodgers bullpen, but it fell into the glove of left fielder Gregor Blanco for an out. A ground out and a fly out scored Pagan for a 1-0 Giants lead.

Kershaw made a diving catch of a popped up bunt by Gregor Blanco about 40 feet up the first base line for the first out of the third inning, a play that drew a loud ovation from the crowd. The Yahoo! play-by-play account described the play as "G. Blanco flied out on a bunt to pitcher."

That wasn't the only fine defensive play of the night. Luis Cruz, who was given loud chants of "Cruuuuuuuuuuz" during his at-bats, made a diving stop at third base to end the fourth inning, robbing Buster Posey of a base hit.

Cruz also had two of the Dodgers' five hits, and is hitting .484 (15-for-31) in his last nine games.

Pagan struck again in the sixth inning, as his infield single in the hole at shortstop the first of three straight two-out hits. Pagan scored on Pablo Sandoval's single to left field narrowly beating Victorino's strong throw home for a 2-0 lead.

Hanley Ramirez homered with two outs in the ninth inning against Sergio Romo to pull the Dodgers within 2-1, his second home run off Romo since joining the Dodgers. But lefty Javier Lopez retired Andre Ethier to end the game and preserve the win for the Giants.

Notes

• Tonight was the 15th start of Kershaw's career with no walks, and his fourth start with no walks and at least 10 strikeouts. Kershaw this season has had six starts with no walks, one more than he had last season.
• There have been 34 starts this season with no walks and 10 or more strikeouts, and tonight was the first time two pitchers did it in the same game.
• Kershaw singled in the third and sixth inning to extend his hitting streak to four games. He has seven hits in 10 at-bats in August.
• Matt Kemp went 0-for-4 with a strikeout on Monday, extending his hitless run to 19 at-bats, dating back to Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
  
• Juan Uribe pinch hit for Kershaw in the eighth inning and struck out. Uribe is 0-for-10 in August, with two walks, and has four hits in his last 56 at-bats dating back to June 20.
  

Tonight's Particulars

Home Runs: Hanley Ramirez (19)

WP - Madison Bumgarner (14-7): 8 IP, 4 hits, 10 strikeouts

LP - Clayton Kershaw (11-7): 8 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 10 strikeouts

Sv - Javier Lopez (2): 1 batter, 1 out