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Kershaw dominant again as Dodgers jump Giants in NL West

Jul 27, 2014 - 6:04 AM San Francisco, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Clayton Kershaw did it again on Saturday, tossing a two-hitter to pitch the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-0 win over the San Francisco Giants to jump into first place in the NL West.

Kershaw (12-2) took care of the Giants' lineup with minimal trouble and made a little history along the way. The dynamic southpaw improved to 9-0 in his last 10 starts, matching Kevin Brown's franchise mark of winning nine straight decisions over a 10-game stretch from 2003.

Kershaw allowed a walk with seven strikeouts, needing just 113 pitches to get through nine scoreless innings. He didn't need more than 16 pitches to get through any one frame.

This was Kershaw's major league-leading fourth complete game of the year.

"Most clubs are trying to do now is get him early, and when you do that and you don't get him, you get a low pitch count," LA manager Don Mattingly said.

The Dodgers have won the first two games of this series to move a half-game in front of San Francisco for first place in the division. The Giants have dropped their last three.

"When you're going against one of the best you have to find a way to scratch and claw for runs," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

LA's bats came through as well for the second straight game. After totaling eight runs on 15 hits on Friday, the Dodgers finished with 11 base knocks in this one.

Adrian Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Juan Uribe had a pair of hits and two runs batted in and Carl Crawford scored twice.

Both starting pitchers faced the minimum through three innings when Gonzalez's double with two outs in the fourth off Ryan Vogelsong (5-8) led to the game's first run. Hanley Ramirez plated Gonzalez with a single to left.

Three straight singles in the visiting fifth led to another run, with Uribe's knock to left scoring Crawford. An inning later, Puig came home after Crawford hit into a fielder's choice and Uribe doubled in a run to make it 4-0.

Vogelsong departed after the sixth inning having allowed two earned runs on eight hits. Jean Machi came on and gave up a leadoff single to Dee Gordon in the top of the seventh. Gordon scored two batters later on another Gonzalez single.

San Francisco never threatened, only putting a runner in scoring position once. Joaquin Arias reached on an error in the sixth and advanced to second base when Hunter Pence grounded out, but Gregor Blanco flied to left to end the inning.

Game Notes

Kershaw improved to 5-1 in his last eight games against San Francisco ... Pence fell to 4-for-45 lifetime against Kershaw ... Vogelsong is 0-5 over his last six starts. He hasn't won since June 21 ... Vogelsong hasn't beaten the Dodgers since June 26, 2012 ... Giants catcher Andrew Susac made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and grounded out to third ... The Giants acquired veteran pitcher Jake Peavy from the Boston Red Sox on Saturday along with cash considerations in exchange for minor league pitchers Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree.