Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey conspire to beat Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw pitched his longest game of the season, but was out-dueled by Madison Bumgarner, while Buster Posey drove in both Giants runs to beat the Dodgers 2-1 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers' eight-game home winning streak is no more.

The Giants struck first off Kershaw in the first inning. After a Angel Pagan hit a two-out double over the head of a bewildered Alex Guerrero making his first career start in left field, Posey drove him home with a single to right.

San Francisco widened their advantage to 2-0 in the fourth inning when Posey took Kershaw deep to center field for his third home run of the season.

Posey and Kershaw have battled for years, and are each other's most common opponent, with 65 plate appearances, entering Tuesday night. But before tonight, Posey was a measly 11-for-65 with 14 strikeouts, hitting just .177/.215/.258 against Kershaw with a home run and five RBI.

On Tuesday Posey was 2-for-4 and drove in both runs for San Francisco, including 2-for-3 against Kershaw, who lasted seven innings and struck out eight and walked none in an otherwise stellar performance.

Bumgarner will disturbingly excellent over his eight innings of work, the longest outing by an opposing starting pitcher against the Dodgers this season. He allowed five hits, walked one, struck out nine, and retired nine of his final 10 batters faced before leaving for a pinch hitter in the ninth inning.

A single by Jimmy Rollins and a double by new guy (literally the moniker yelled at him from the crowd) Enrique Hernandez gave the Dodgers life in the fourth inning. One out later a ground ball to the hole at shortstop brought home a run but an alert play by Joaquin Arias nabbed Hernandez at third to neuter the rally.

After a walk by A.J. Ellis with two out in the fifth, Arias factored in again, first shorting a throw on a grounder by Kershaw that Brandon Belt couldn't dig out, giving the Dodgers new life in the inning. Rollins followed with a slow roller to Arias, who bounced another throw to first, only this time Belt scooped it cleanly, rendering the Dodgers' threat old news.

When you think about it, relying on the first baseman to not scoop throws is no way to score runs. I believe Josey Wales put it best.

Notes

Kershaw has allowed three first-inning runs in five starts this season. He allowed seven runs in the opening frame in 27 starts in 2014.

Hernandez was 2-for-4 in his Dodgers debut, with a double and two strikeouts.

Yasmani Grandal pinch hit for Kershaw in the seventh inning, the first time manager Don Mattingly has used a backup catcher as a pinch hitter this season. In 2014, Mattingly used a catcher to pinch hit six times, and one of those was to pinch hit for a catcher. None of the six instances last year occurred before the eighth inning.

Sergio Santos, who grew up a Dodgers fan and played at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, pitched for the first time at Dodger Stadium, recording the final out in the top of the ninth inning.

Tuesday particulars

Home run: Buster Posey (3)

WP - Madison Bumganer (2-1): 8 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts

LP - Clayton Kershaw (1-2): 7 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, 8 strikeouts

Sv - Santiago Casilla (6): 1 IP, 1 strikeout