Dodgers 4, Giants 2: Clayton Kershaw beats Tim Lincecum again

Clayton Kershaw continued his mastery of the Giants, and with a little help from the resurgent offense and a sublime Kenley Jansen helped the Dodgers complete their sweep with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

The win was the fifth straight for the Dodgers, who swept the Giants for the first time at home since Apr. 13-16, 2009.

Kershaw had come into the game tied for the fifth-worst run support in the National League at three runs per 27 outs, and despite a 3.38 ERA in his previous six starts had gone winless during that span. So when Buster Posey hit a hanger into the left field pavilion for a 2-1 Giants lead in the fourth inning, it looked like it might hold up.

But the Dodgers finally got to Lincecum in the sixth inning. After Hanley Ramirez singled and stole second, Andre Ethier singled him home to tie the game at 2-2. Ethier stole second on a botched hit-and-run play, helped by a botched throw by catcher Hector Sanchez, then scored on a double by A.J. Ellis. After Ellis advanced to third base on an infield single by Juan Uribe, a wild pitch brought him home for a 4-2 lead.

Flush with support, Kershaw retired his final eight straight batters before a leadoff single by Marco Scutaro in the ninth inning, and would have retired 12 straight were it not for a fielding error by Uribe.

With Posey up representing the tying run in the ninth inning, manager Don Mattingly summoned Jansen from the bullpen to finish the job. After allowing a single to Posey, Jansen struck out Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval, then got Brandon Belt on an infield pop to end it.

Kershaw picked up his first victory since May 20, and though his ERA went up from 2.06 to 2.08, he remains third in the National League.

He improved to 10-4 in 20 career games against the Giants, including 19 starts, with a 1.33 ERA, 146 strikeouts and 24 unintentional walks in 142 innings.

Notes

• Hanley Ramirez went 2-for-3 with a walk to extend his hitting streak to nine games, during which he is hitting .485(16-for-33).
• Ramirez has also drive in a run in six straight games, the longest streak by a Dodger this season and the longest since A.J. Ellis drove in a run in six straight games from Sept. 23-30, 2012. The last Dodger to have a streak longers than six straight games with an RBI was Matt Kemp, who had a nine-game stretch from the end of 2011 through the beginning of 2012.
  
• Yasiel Puig had a double and two singles, his second three-hit game of the series and sixth of his brief career, and is now hitting .435/.467/.729.
  
• Jansen has 27 strikeouts since his last walk, which came on May 19.
• Jansen in June has faced 44 batters, allowed one run, and struck out 19.

Up next

The Phillies come to town for four games at Dodger Stadium. Zack Greinke starts the opener for the Dodgers against rookie Jonathan Pettibone on Thursday night.

Wednesday particulars

Home run: Buster Posey (10)

WP - Clayton Kershaw (6-5): 8+ IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts

LP - Tim Lincecum (4-8): 5⅓ IP, 10 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts

Sv - Kenley Jansen (6): 1 IP, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts