Sloppy Dodgers waste Clayton Kershaw effort in loss to Marlins

Sloppy play in the first two innings was too much from which to recover for the Dodgers, who wasted another stellar Clayton Kershaw start in a 3-2 loss to the Marlins on Saturday afternoon at Marlins Park in Miami.

Video from the first two innings on defense is nothing the Dodgers will be submitting for any fundamental drills anytime soon. Kershaw allowed an infield single to Christian Yelich then a bloop single to right field with one out. Yelich advanced to third on the single, then scored when Andre Ethier's throw from right field somehow found its way into the camera well in the third base dugout. Ethier got hung with the error on the play, but fault was certainly shared by Turner, who moved to catch the throw as if he was tethered to the bag, and by Kershaw, who didn't get into proper position to back up the play.

The bad throw also allowed Adeiny Hechavarria, he of the bloop single, to advance to third, an important note since Kershaw threw a wild pitch through the legs of Yasmani Grandal behind the plate for a 2-1 Marlins lead.

J.T. Realmuto doubled off Kershaw to lead off the second inning, and would have been stranded, but when pitcher Tom Koehler hit a liner to center field that should have ended the inning it was misplayed by Joc Pederson, who saw it go off his glove for another run.

The Dodgers went 13 games without an error before making two on Saturday.

Turner got the Dodgers on the board early with a solo shot in the first inning, his 11th home run of the season and his sixth of June.

The Dodgers added a run with three straight singles in the fourth inning, aided by Yelich losing the ball in the lights in left field on one of them, but any thoughts of a big inning were thwarted by back-to-back acrobatic plays by Dee Gordon at second base, the first a catch of a line drive and the second turning a double play on Grandal to end the inning.

That was all they got against Tom Koehler, who struck out five in seven innings.

The Marlins nearly added to their lead in the sixth inning, with a leadoff double by Dee Gordon over a shallow Kiké Hernandez in left field. But Hernandez got to the ball quickly to keep Gordon from a triple on the play, important since Gordon didn't score on the single by Yelich, the next batter, putting runners at third base with nobody out. But Kershaw rebounded to strikeout the (depleted) heart of the Marlins order.

Kershaw ended up with nine strikeouts and no walks in his seven innings, the first time he has struck out nine or more in five straight starts.

But thanks to poor run support and poor defense, Kershaw also had another career first on Saturday - his third straight start with a loss.

Up next

Zack Greinke starts for the Dodgers in the series finale on Sunday morning, with Jose Urena on the hill for the Marlins.

Saturday particulars

Home run: Justin Turner (11)

WP - Tom Koehler (6-4): 7 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts

LP - Clayton Kershaw (5-6): 7 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 9 strikeouts

Sv - A.J. Ramos (10): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts