LOS ANGELES — The Giants were crashing the party.
This night was supposed to be about one man, and one man only. Not Heliot Ramos, who sent the game’s third pitch into the bleachers. Not Wilmer Flores, whose third-inning single gave his team a lead. Not Robbie Ray, who surrendered just one run through four innings.
No, this night was dedicated to Clayton Kershaw, who was to take the mound in the regular season one last time following his retirement announcement. The lefty with a Cooperstown curveball will eventually own a Cooperstown plaque due in part to his legacy of dominance against San Francisco. But here the Giants were, the cacophony to Kershaw’s swan song. With a season on life support, there is no place for sentimentality.
But as has been the case so many times, the Giants could not win a game where Kershaw took the mound.
The extended ovation following Kershaw’s ceremonious exit in the top of the fifth preceded the uncontrollable catharsis of Shohei Ohtani’s go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth, a three-run shot that pierced the Giants’ soul. San Francisco’s night ended with a 6-3 loss, creeping ever closer to elimination.
Friday night was the final time the Giants will have to face Kershaw, a generational pitcher who tormented them for 18 seasons. Friday night was also a reminder that they will have to continue facing Ohtani, a generational talent slated to torment them for the foreseeable future.
“We’ve had some great battles over the years,” Kershaw said. “And Buster (Posey) is still over there. He’s still there. Whenever I think of the Giants, Buster is kind of the first one then (Madison Bumgarner). I guess (Tim) Lincecum, Cain – I think I’ve gone through all the guys they’ve had over there. They’ve got a great squad. I have a lot of respect for them over the years. It does feel appropriate that I faced the Giants for sure. I’m just glad we won one more time.”
Kershaw, even with far diminished stuff compared to when he first faced the Giants as a 20-year-old rookie, found his latest — and last — way to keep San Francisco’s offense in check.
Ramos led off the game with a homer and Flores had an RBI single in the third, but that would be the extent of the Giants’ offense against the 37-year-old left-hander who barely touched 90 mph. Kershaw secured his storybook departure when he struck out Rafael Devers to begin the fifth, his sixth strikeout of the night and the 3,045th of his career.
“He’s Kershaw at the end of the day, but he doesn’t have the stuff like he used to have, so we were just trying to be aggressive,” Ramos said. “He’s still a great pitcher. He still executes, makes his pitches and makes me work.”
As Devers walked back to the dugout, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts walked out to the mound to excuse his Hall of Fame starter. Kisses were blown; hats were doffed. After Kershaw embraced every Dodger in the dugout, he ascended the dugout steps and basked in the encore. His final numbers against the Giants: 2.10 ERA, 411 2/3 innings, 421 strikeouts.
Leading 2-1 at the time of Kershaw’s departure, the Giants positioned themselves to hand Kershaw a loss and spoil the fun. Ohtani, as he is wont to do, ensured that would not be the case.
In the bottom of the fifth, Ohtani turned the Giants’ one-run lead into a two-run deficit with a three-run shot off Ray, affirming why he will soon be a four-time MVP. Before the sellout crowd gathered themselves, Mookie Betts, a future Hall of Famer in his own right, sent Ray’s very next pitch into the left-field bleachers.
“I put it on the black, but he put a good swing on it,” said Ray, who allowed five runs over 4 2/3 innings. “If it’s not down the line, it’s probably not a homer. He just caught it deep enough to where it was able to go over the wall.”
With Kershaw’s playing days numbered, Ohtani is seemingly taking Kershaw’s place as the next Giants tormenter.
Including tonight’s home run, Ohtani is hitting .316/.420/.663 with nine home runs and 18 RBIs against San Francisco since joining Los Angeles. He’s only pitched once against the Giants, tossing two scoreless innings in July, but he’ll have his chances as he plays out the next eight years of his contract.
“We have ideas how we can (get him out). I’m not going to go over what the scouting report is, but obviously, you have to be careful in some situations with him,” said manager Bob Melvin. “We walked him several times with a base open. But again, Robbie’s a decent matchup for him. It wasn’t a horrible pitch. Ball’s away, you gotta give him credit when he hits a ball down the line to left field like that.”
With their sixth loss in their last seven games, the Giants’ playoff ambitions have all but evaporated. In short, they are four games back of the New York Mets for the third and final NL wild card spot (essentially five due to the tiebreaker) with eight games remaining.
“You just got to take it day-by-day,” Ray said. “We lost tonight. It’s over, we can’t change it. Come back tomorrow and get back on the horse.”
