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The power of Giancarlo Stanton was on full display again on Tuesday night, crushing a fastball well over the center field wall to stun Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers in a 6-3 win for the Marlins in the second game of their four-game series.
Kershaw was absolutely cruising Tuesday night, retiring 16 of his first 17 batters faced into the sixth inning, with the only batter to reach a fly ball that should have been caught by Carl Crawford in left field but wasn't, scored a triple in the books.
With eight strikeouts and no walks through five, only 60 pitches thrown and a 3-0 lead, the vibe at Dodger Stadium was more about wondering why we couldn't have had the same official scorer as in Jake Arrieta's no-hitter than the actual outcome of the game at hand.
Or maybe there was marveling at Kershaw excelling at the plate as well as he did on the mound, with a single and an RBI double. It was the 12th career multi-hit game of Kershaw's career, and his first since June 1, 2015, when he set his career high with three hits against the Rockies at Coors Field.
The "what if" talk ended with a bloop double to left field by old friend Miguel Rojas with one out in the sixth. Dee Gordon then grounded a ball off Kershaw's leg and beat the throw to first for a second hit.
Miami finally scored when Martin Prado lofted a soft liner back up the middle for an RBI single, then a line drive to left field by Christian Yelich scored Gordon to pull the Marlins to within 3-2, bringing up Stanton with two on.
Stanton absolutely demolished a 1-0 fastball from Kershaw, 109 mph off the bat and 433 feet to center field to turn the game around.
It was only a matter of 7½ minutes from the Rojas bloop hit to the titanic shot by Stanton that turned off cruise control to sink the Dodgers.
It was the eighth home run in 17 career games at Dodger Stadium for the local product Stanton, who is hitting .313 in Los Angeles with a .750 slugging percentage and 20 RBI.
For Kershaw, it marked the 100th regular season home run allowed in his career. It was just the 12th of those with two runners on, and the first since June 9, 2012, to Miguel Olivo of the Marlins.
It marked the fifth time he allowed at least five hits in an inning, and the first time Kershaw allowed five consecutive hits.
Kershaw has allowed fewer than five hits in an entire start 110 times in his career, almost as many times as he allowed five hits (137).
Kershaw would remain in the game to complete seven innings, the fifth time in five starts he has done so this year, but the damage was done. He even struck out 10 and walked none for the 14th time in his career, but it was of little solace.
Up next
The Dodgers will turn to Scott Kazmir on Wednesday night in the third game of the series. Miami originally planned to start Jarred Cosart on Wednesday, but he was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans on Tuesday to make room for Martin Prado, who returned from paternity leave. The Marlins will recall left-hander Justin Nicolino on Thursday to start.
Tuesday particulars
Home run: Giancarlo Stanton (6)
WP - Tom Koehler (2-2): 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs (2 earned runs), 4 walks, 3 strikeouts
LP - Clayton Kershaw (2-1): 7 IP, 7 hits, 5 runs, 10 strikeouts
Sv - A.J. Ramos (5): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout