Kershaw tosses 2-hit ball over 5 innings and Dodgers beat Giants 7-0
Clayton Kershaw pitched two-hit ball over five innings, Mookie Betts hit a two-run double that set a record of 105 RBIs for a leadoff hitter, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 7-0 on Saturday night.
Kershaw (13-4) struck out five and walked two. The three-time Cy Young Award winner has not gone beyond five innings in any of last seven starts. He returned Aug. 10 after missing six weeks with a left shoulder injury that he and the team have said little about.
The NL West champion Dodgers earned their 95th win of the season and 15th shutout, tied for second in the major leagues behind Seattle's 16.
Betts' RBIs are the most by a leadoff hitter, two more than Charlie Blackmon's 103 for Colorado in 2017. Betts' double in the eighth extended the lead to 7-0.
J.D. Martinez hit his 31st home run and added a two-run double. The Dodgers could have three players with 100 RBIs for the first time since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. Max Muncy has 103, and Martinez (98) and Freddie Freeman (96) are approaching triple digits with seven games remaining.
Freeman got his major league-leading 57th double of the season in the fifth, driving in Austin Barnes. Muncy's RBI single extended the lead to 5-0.
Freeman singled in the seventh for his career-high 203rd hit, then stole his 22nd base in 23 attempts.
The Giants had runners at the corners in the fifth after Marco Luciano's leadoff double and a walk to Luis Mato with two outs. David Peralta made a diving, inning-ending catch on Austin Slater's fly ball to left that potentially saved two runs. Kershaw looked up at his wife, Ellen, and children watching from a suite and smiled and waved as he reached the dugout.
Giants opener John Brebbia (3-2) took the loss, pitching 1 1/3 innings.
The Giants have lost seven of nine and been outscored 57-32 with one game remaining on their trip.
Martinez fouled a ball off a leg just before his RBI double in the third that made it 3-0.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: RHP Jakob Junis left after the fourth inning because of neck tightness. ... LHP Scott Alexander is on the 15-day IL with a left hamstring strain.
UP NEXT
RHP Lance Lynn (12-11, 5.92 ERA) starts Sunday for the Dodgers.