LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marquee pitching matchups don't always play out as advertised. Such was the case Friday night at Dodger Stadium, where Clayton Kershaw let in two runs with wild pitches and
Madison Bumgarner allowed two homers in a game by one player for the third time in his career.
Kike Hernandez went deep his first two times up, drove in four runs and prevented two more with a diving catch in left field, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
"When he gets an opportunity to play, he's aggressive in the strike zone," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "He set the tempo and the tone for us tonight. You get a great pitcher like Bumgarner, then homer on the first pitch and back it up with another one and a double — he had a huge night."
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 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.
"First pitch of the game, I figured he was going to throw a fastball," Hernandez said. "I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit. Then 2-0, second at-bat, he's thrown sliders in the past. I was on the fastball with a slider in the back of my mind. He threw a fastball. I put a good swing on it."
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.
"I tried to make good pitches to him, but he's just seeing the ball really good, apparently," Bumgarner said.
The only other players to homer off Bumgarner twice in one game were the Dodgers' Justin Turner on Sept. 23, 2014, at Los Angeles, and the Diamondbacks' Aaron Hill on April 7, 2012, at Arizona.
"It's a long season. We play a lot of games, and you're probably going to see a little of everything," Bumgarner said.
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.
"He made a few mistakes, a few more than normal," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Hernandez had a huge night, but we just didn't play a clean game. That would have helped matters. That's very uncommon for us, because we usually catch the ball."
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.
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.
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 roster with OF Mac Williamson and RHP 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.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner works against the Oakland Athletics in the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 30, 2016, in Oakland, Calif.
