LOS ANGELES -- A.J. Pollock slugged three home runs on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, but a 5-4 loss to the Giants only underscored how the starting rotation is just as instrumental in the Dodgers’ success as all of those big flies.

And that rotation is in a slump. Clayton Kershaw made his shortest start of the year in the loss, the latest data point in a disturbing trend as the Dodgers straddle divergent goals of winning every game and preparing for the postseason.

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The preparation includes moving Kenta Maeda from the rotation to the bullpen, moving Julio Urias from the bullpen to the rotation, skipping a turn for struggling Cy Young candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu, giving Walker Buehler extra rest and activating 39-year-old Rich Hill next week because he’s back in the picture.

“A lot of our momentum all year long has been starting pitching,” said manager Dave Roberts. “When you have good, consistent starting pitching, guys that go deep in games, that’s contagious and gives you a chance to win on a nightly basis. Look at the last two weeks -- the common factor is our starters haven’t been consistent.”

No Dodgers starter has reached the sixth inning since Buehler on Aug. 27. In the past 14 games, Dodgers starters have a 5.67 ERA and the team is 7-7, which included a four-game win streak snapped with Friday’s loss. Kershaw is 13-5, with a three-game losing streak for the first time since 2015. He said pitching, like hitting, can be contagious, good and bad.

“I will say, sometimes hitting your lineup has a confidence and momentum and same thing with the starting rotation,” he said. “One guy rolls, another guy rolls. There’s a lot of excuses I can come up with in my head that I need to not think of. Just need to pitch better, more than anything.”

Kershaw was removed from the 1-1 tie with no outs in the fifth inning, his shortest start of the year, having already allowed seven hits and three walks.

His reaction was as uncharacteristic as his early hook. He greeted Roberts with “What?” When he got to the dugout, he flipped his glove against the wall, then angrily kicked what appeared to be a duffle bag.

“You just never want to come out of a game, especially that early,” Kershaw said. “Just a frustrating game.”

Kershaw acknowledged walking a few (three) and allowing some hard-hit balls to Mauricio Dubon (including a home run off the foul-pole screen), but noted that there wasn’t a lot of hard contact; rather, several long at-bats resulted in a skyrocketing pitch count.

“Really frustrating all the way around,” he said.

Although many of the hits were soft and he struck out six, he allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base four times and it all contributed to running his pitch count up to 99. In his previous start, Kershaw allowed Arizona five runs in five innings.

The Giants put five runners on base against Kershaw over the first two innings and didn’t score. Then the Dodgers took the lead on one Pollock swing against Jeff Samardzija, his 11th home run. The Giants then tried it the Dodgers’ way, tying the game in the fourth inning with Dubon’s second MLB home run, off the left-field foul pole screen.

Two of Kershaw’s runners were inherited by Dylan Floro and they scored on pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski’s bases-loaded double to break the tie and two more runs scored on Dubon’s bases-loaded single.

“It was a grind for him,” Roberts said. “Tonight, those guys were spoiling good pitches and got the pitch count up.”

The Dodgers scored in the sixth inning on a double by Joc Pederson and single by Cody Bellinger, then with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Pollock homered off Giants closer Will Smith. But after pinch-hitter Russell Martin walked, Will Smith the Giant struck out Will Smith the Dodger to end the game.

With the D-backs’ 7-5 win over the Reds on Friday, L.A.’s magic number to clinch the division remains four.