Hernandez Smacks 2 HRs Off Bumgarner; Dodgers Top Giants, 7-3
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kike Hernandez homered his first two times up against Madison Bumgarner, drove in four runs and prevented two more with a diving catch in left field, leading Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
Kershaw (2-0) was charged with three runs — two earned — and five hits over seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks. The Giants scored their first two runs on the left-hander's first two wild pitches of the season.
Bumgarner (1-1) gave up seven runs — four earned — and five hits in five-plus innings. He struck out seven, but his teammates committed three errors behind him. The 2014 World Series and NLCS MVP was 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in his other three head-to-head showdowns with Kershaw at Dodger Stadium.
This was the sixth time in Kershaw's last seven starts against the Giants that his mound opponent was Bumgarner. Neither got a decision last Saturday in San Francisco, where the Dodgers won 3-2 in 10 innings.
Hernandez, whose go-ahead, two-run double ignited a five-run seventh inning in the Dodgers' 5-2 win over Arizona on Thursday night, drove Bumgarner's first pitch of the game to center field for his first career leadoff homer.
Two innings later, Hernandez deposited a 2-0 offering into the left-field pavilion for his first career two-homer game, giving Kershaw a 2-1 lead.
Hernandez also homered against Bumgarner last Sept. 29 at San Francisco in an 8-0 win by Kershaw, who pitched a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts that night.
Howie Kendrick, a career second baseman who started in left field and third base in the previous two games, was back at his normal position and committed an error that led to an unearned run in the Giants third.
Bumgarner, who homered against Kershaw for the second time in their previous matchup, led off the third with a single and scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch to Buster Posey. But Hernandez minimized the damage with a diving catch of Posey's sinking liner.
Hernandez added a bases-loaded, two-run double that capped a four-run fourth and increased Los Angeles' lead to 6-1, after Charlie Culberson's two-run single. Culberson singled home another run in the sixth to make it 7-3.
Last weekend, the three-time defending NL West champion Dodgers lost three of four at San Francisco after outscoring the Padres 25-0 in a season-opening three-game sweep at San Diego.
Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, combined with two relievers to end San Francisco's franchise-record streak of 10 consecutive games from the start of a season with a home run. The Giants connected eight times in the previous series with the Dodgers.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: Placed RHP Sergio Romo and INF Ehire Adrianza on the 15-day disabled list and replaced them on the 25-man roster with outfielder Mac Williamson and right-hander Derek Law. Adrianza is expected to miss six to eight weeks because of a broken left foot. Romo has a strained flexor tendon in his right elbow, and is on the DL for the third time in his career — all because of elbow injuries.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Johnny Cueto pitched seven innings in his first two starts, going 2-0 despite a 4.50 ERA.
Dodgers: LHP Scott Kazmir (1-0) opposes Cueto for the second time in seven days, after allowing six runs and seven hits in a no-decision last Sunday at San Francisco.
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