Complete-game loss is first of Kershaw’s career

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By Jon Weisman

Clayton Kershaw walked none and struck out 11 in a five-hit, 97-pitch complete game, but somehow, for the first time in one of his starts since May 28, he and the Dodgers lost.

A two-run home run by Ryan Braun just over the right-field wall in the fourth, followed by a solo shot by first-pitch-swinging Carlos Gomez in the sixth, poked the holes in Kershaw’s seemingly immortal summertime run, lifting Milwaukee to a 3-2 victory Saturday.

For Kershaw, it his sixth complete game of 2014 (most by a Dodger since Ismael Valdez in 1995). But it was the first complete-game loss of his career and the 11th by a Dodger pitcher this century — and just the second by a Dodger at home, joined only by Derek Lowe on June 9, 2007.

The only time Kershaw has thrown fewer pitches in a nine-inning complete game was his memorable Opening Day 2013 shutout of the Giants, which he finished in 94.

The Dodger offense rarely troubled Yovani Gallardo, who scattered six hits and a walk over eight innings. Los Angeles scored its only run off the Milwaukee starter when Justin Turner singled home Carl Crawford, but Turner was tagged out trying to go to second on the play.

After Kershaw walked off the mound in the middle of the ninth to a standing ovation, Matt Kemp thrilled the crowd by slamming a 3-2 pitch far over the short wall in left field for a leadoff homer. But that was all the Dodgers got.

Kershaw’s ERA rose from 1.78 to 1.86, but he now has 174 strikeouts compared to 19 walks in 2014 — a 9.2 K/BB ratio. Los Angeles had averaged 4.9 runs per game in support of Kershaw this season before tonight.

Tonight’s game was the first time that Kershaw had been charged with a loss after a Dodger loss in the previous game since June 21, 2013, the night before the Dodgers’ 42-8 run began.

The game lasted 2:28; the only nine-inning game that the Dodgers have played more quickly this season was a 6-0 victory at Arizona on April 11.