Clayton Kershaw’s start against the San Francisco Giants began in atypical fashion but in the end it was business as usual for the Los Angeles Dodgers left-handed ace. Kershaw turned in another scoreless outing, completing three hitless innings with three strikeouts on Tuesday.
A leadoff walk in the first inning was erased when Yasmani Grandal threw out Gorkys Hernandez on his stolen base attempt. Kershaw retired the next two batters faced, including one by strikeout. Logan Forsythe and Adrian Gonzalez singled in the bottom of the first.
Gonzalez later advanced to second base on a wild pitch, but both runners were stranded. Jae-gyun Hwang made a diving stop at third base to rob Franklin Gutierrez of a potential extra-base hit and two RBI.
The Dodgers threatened again in the second, with Tyler Holt reaching on a base hit and Chris Taylor via walk, but Matt Moore kept the game locked in a scoreless tie. Kershaw kept the Giants off the bases in the third, which was his final inning of work, and picked up another strikeout in the process.
Kershaw ran his spring line to that point to a combined six shutout innings with zero hits allowed, one walk and five strikeouts across three starts. He finished Tuesday’s outing by retiring eight consecutive batters.
Yasiel Puig was stranded at second base in the bottom of the third inning after drawing a walk and advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch. Moore’s afternoon was complete at three innings pitched with two walks and five strikeouts.
Josh Fields allowed a base hit to Joe Panik and later an RBI triple to Brandon Belt, which gave the Giants a 1-0 lead. After knocking on the dour in previous innings, the Dodgers broke through in the fourth.
With a runner on first base, Taylor improved to 6-for-14 on the spring with a two-out base hit. Forsythe’s blooper to right field dropped in front of Justin Ruggiano, allowing the tying run to score. Puig’s grounder to third base resulted in a Giants error, and the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead.
Hwang atoned for his questionable decision and poor throw that led to an error by tying the game with a solo home run in the fifth. The homer was the third Fields allowed in as many games this spring.
With one out and runners on first and second base, Charlie Culberson bounced into an inning-ending double play. Luis Avilan allowed a solo home run to Mac Williamson in the sixth, which gave the Giants a 3-2 lead. Grant Dayton was the next Dodgers reliever to serve up a homer, with Chris Marrero taking the left-hander deep in the seventh.
George Kontos worked around a two-out walk of Willie Calhoun in the bottom half of the inning to preserve the Giants’ 4-2 lead. Adam Liberatore stopped the bleeding in the eighth, marking the first inning the Giants did not score a run since the third.
Shea Spitzbarth completed a fourth scoreless inning in as many appearances this spring, despite Edwin Rios’ second error of the game allowing the Giants to load the bases with one out in the ninth.
Jose Dominguez retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn a save in the Giants’ 4-2 victory.
