Dodgers offense goes quiet, Clayton Kershaw struggles in loss

The Giants hit a lot of dingers off Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers only managed two hits, as they fell to San Francisco, 5-4.

A weird sixth

Johnny Cueto was working on a no-hitter as he entered the sixth inning. The Dodgers were making consistent contact, but couldn’t get anything going against him through the first five innings. Kiké Hernandez led off the inning, hitting a routine flyball to left fielder Hunter Pence.

The problem? Pence had absolutely no clue where the ball was.

It was ruled a triple and the no-hitter was gone. After putting a few runners on base, Justin Turner hit his first home run of the season. A three-run shot to bring the Dodgers to within one run. Unfortunately, his homer and the Hernandez triple were the only two hits on the night for the Dodgers.

Rocky outing for Clayton Kershaw

After a dominant start to begin his season in Arizona last week, Kershaw struggled tonight against San Francisco. In the top of the third, Austin Slater hit a solo shot off Kershaw to give the Giants an early 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Mike Yastrzemski hit a solo shot as well, extending their lead to two.

Two innings later, Slater got Kershaw yet again. He hit his second solo homer of the night off the veteran, becoming only the seventh player to ever have at least two homers in one game against Kershaw. That must be some trivia question, trying to name the other six players.

Donovan Solano then doubled, and came in to score on another double from Yastrzemski, giving San Francisco the 4-0 lead. That was all for Kershaw, as he was taken out of the game. This was only the fourth time in 50 career starts against the Giants that Kershaw allowed at least four runs.

Saturday particulars

WP: Johnny Cueto (1-0) 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO

LP: Clayton Kershaw (1-1) 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 6 SO, 1 BB

SV: Trevor Gott (4) 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB

Home runs: Justin Turner (1), Mike Yastrzemski (4), Austin Slater 2 (2)

Box score

Up next

The Dodgers will look to pick up the series win tomorrow afternoon. Walker Buehler (0-0, 5.19 ERA) makes the start for LA. He’ll face Kevin Gausman (0-1, 5.27 ERA). First pitch is at 1:10 p.m. PT on SportsNet LA.