Earthquake shakes LA, Hunter Renfroe shake Dodgers

The Dodgers lost their first home game since June 17 as they fell to the Padres on Friday, 3-2. It’s also the first time the Dodgers lost a Clayton Kershaw start at Dodger Stadium this season.

Clayton Kershaw took the mound for the ninth time at home, pitching well in his last outing before heading to the All-Star Game in Cleveland. He tossed seven innings, holding the Padres to two runs (one earned). The Friars only knocked in five hits off of the lefty and only drew one walk.

Kershaw struck out a total of nine batters, which brought his career strikeout total to 2,371, claiming the No. 50 spot on the all-time strikeout list. The 31-year-old is just 25 strikeouts away from tying Dodger great Sandy Koufax (2,396) at No. 49.

Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado each knocked in an RBI off of Kershaw in the third inning, giving the Padres a 2-0 lead over the Dodgers. They didn’t hold this two-run advantage for long before the Dodgers responded with a run of their own.

Thanks to a fielding error, Austin Barnes reached base and eventually scored from an RBI single from Chris Taylor.

Taylor, who is the fill-in shortstop during Corey Seager’s absence, is flaunting an impressive .388/.480/.687 slash line in 21 games. He is helping Seager’s trip to the injured list feel like less of a detriment.

The Padres essentially gifted the Dodgers their tying run in the sixth inning. Alex Verdugo led the inning off with a double and eventually completed his trip around the bases with a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice.

Hunter Renfroe, who has terrorized Kenley Jansen earlier this season, came back to do more damage against Dodgers relievers. When Yimi Garcia replaced Kershaw in the eighth inning, Renfroe came up and knocked a home run that won the game. Garcia earned his third loss of the season and raised his ERA just a tad — from 4.09 to 4.11.

Shaking things up

California, Arizona and Nevada all experienced a tremble from a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck in Ridgecrest, Calif. It was severely felt in Southern California and the shaking was caught on SportsNet LA during Enrique Hernandez’s at-bat in the fourth inning.

Another scary moment happened in the ninth inning when Russell Martin was hit with a 93 mph fastball to his head, flinging his helmet off. Luckily, Martin gave a thumbs up to signal he is O.K., but it definitely gave everyone a scare. As if the earthquake didn’t shake Dodger Stadium enough.

Friday particulars

WP: Craig Stammen (6-4), 1 ¹⁄₃ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

LP: Yimi García (1-3), 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 HR, 3 K

SV: Kirby Yates (28), 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K

Home runs: Hunter Renfroe (26)

Box score

Up next

The Dodgers will try to get back into their winning ways on Saturday. They send Kenta Maeda to the mound to face Chris Paddack at 7:10 p.m. PDT.