Giants best Kershaw, get 3rd win in LA

Mauricio Dubón yanked a first-pitch fastball from Clayton Kershaw and then stood there and watched, willing the ball to stay fair. When he saw his towering drive clang off the left-field foul pole, Dubón commenced his home run trot, tapping his chest twice as he rounded first base.

Dubón’s two-run shot capped a three-run first inning against Kershaw and sprinkled some spice into the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. After crossing home plate, Dubón pointed to the sky before sheathing an invisible sword, mimicking the strikeout celebration Trevor Bauer unveiled in San Francisco on May 21.

“Those guys are having fun, we’re having fun,” Dubón said. “It’s baseball.”

After being swept at home in their first meeting with their archrivals, Dubón and the Giants sent a message by beating the Dodgers, 5-4, on Sunday afternoon to take three out of four games of their series rematch at Dodger Stadium this weekend.

The Giants (33-20) lost their first four games of the year against the defending World Series champions before rebounding with three consecutive wins, which pushed them 13 games above .500 and pulled them within a half-game of the first-place Padres in the National League West.

“I think we did a really nice job on this trip,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We got a lot of big hits. Our offense clicked and put up runs in a very tough environment here at Dodger Stadium against some tough pitching. I think we stayed together as a team. We got some big outs from our bullpen, got contributions from our starting pitching and our bench as well, so it was a very well-rounded trip.”

Kevin Gausman held the Dodgers’ potent lineup to two hits over six shutout innings and helped his cause by adding an RBI single off Kershaw in the fourth. Gausman struck out seven, walked none and threw only 72 pitches, but he was removed after the sixth “as a precaution” with left hip tightness, according to the Giants.

The 30-year-old right-hander has been dealing with the issue for several weeks and aggravated the injury after stretching awkwardly to field a dribbler off the bat of Matt Beaty and throwing to first for the final out of the sixth. Gausman will undergo an MRI exam on Monday, but he said he’s confident he’ll be able to make his next scheduled start on Saturday against the Cubs.

“I haven’t missed a start yet, and I don’t plan to,” said Gausman, who improved to 6-0 with a 1.40 ERA through 11 starts this year, the fourth-lowest mark in the Majors.

Kershaw entered Sunday with a 1.79 ERA in 51 career appearances against San Francisco, but he gave up five runs on seven hits, including homers to Dubón and Austin Slater, over six innings in his first outing against the Giants this year.

Sunday marked the first time the Giants have ever scored three runs in the first inning against Kershaw, who began his afternoon by yielding back-to-back singles to Slater and Donovan Solano. Slater came around to score on an RBI groundout by Evan Longoria, and Dubón delivered the big blow with his 414-foot shot down the left-field line.

Dubón’s third home run of the season flew off his bat at 107.1 mph, making it the hardest-hit ball of his career, according to Statcast. Gausman said he didn’t witness Dubón’s Bauer mimicry, but he gave his stamp of approval when informed of the gesture afterward.

“I love it,” Gausman said. “If [Bauer] is going to do that against us, why can’t we do it against him? It’s fun. It’s going to make this rivalry a lot of fun. Obviously, both of us are playing really good, so it’s going to be exciting.”

Despite Kershaw’s overall dominance against the Giants, the Dodgers’ left-hander has had trouble containing Dubón and Slater, who made it 4-0 with a solo blast in the third. Slater is now 6-for-15 (.400) with three home runs in his career against Kershaw, while Dubón is 4-for-6 with a walk and two homers.

“One thing that stands out to me about Slater is he’s excellent at staying inside the baseball and using the right side to do damage and drive it,” Kapler said. “It can kind of counteract or be a good defense against a good slider. Dubón has shown that he can hit left-handed pitching. I think he sees the ball better, I think he’s more patient. I think his approach is more to the middle of the field, even though he pulled that ball right down the line. I think when any left-handed pitcher is on the mound, Dubón has a good chance at doing damage.”

The Dodgers clawed back on a pair of late-inning two-run home runs by Max Muncy and Albert Pujols, but Jake McGee struck out Will Smith and retired Austin Barnes on a flyout to end the game. Round 3 of the Giants-Dodgers showdown is scheduled for June 28-29 in Los Angeles.

“They’ve always had good players,” Muncy said. “I’ve said it before, for whatever reason they couldn’t put it together the last couple of years, but they’ve had good players. They’re playing well right now, they’re pitching well, they’re matching up well, they have good bullpen pieces. It’s just one of those things where they’re going to hit mistakes. That’s what they did, and they made pitches.”