Brewers’ blasts stop Kershaw’s win streak at 11
LOS ANGELES — On a night when Clayton Kershaw couldn’t keep the ball in the ballpark, Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo held the Los Angeles Dodgers in check and sent the major leagues’ ERA leader to his first loss in more than 2½ months.
Gallardo pitched eight strong innings, Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez homered, and the Brewers ended Kershaw’s streak of 11 straight victories with a 3-2 win over the Dodgers on Saturday night.
Gallardo (8-6), who threw 96 pitches, allowed a run and six hits with three strikeouts and a walk. The right-hander has won back-to-back starts for the first time since his first two outings of the season.
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“Yo was just outstanding,” Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. “He had great command and an outstanding fastball. He pitched off the fastball the whole game, mixing in his slider and curveball. He really dominated. That’s a good club, so you can’t mess around and make mistakes against them.”
Francisco Rodriguez got three outs for his major league-leading 38th save and 342nd of his career, despite giving up a leadoff homer to Matt Kemp in the ninth.
Kershaw (14-3) pitched his 17th complete game in 202 career starts. He allowed five hits and no walks while striking out 11.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner and three-time defending major league ERA champ had a 1.16 ERA over his previous 13 starts since his last loss on May 28 against Cincinnati.
“It comes down to (the fact that) I got outpitched,” Kershaw said. “Yovani pitched better than I did, and we lost the game. I just made more mistakes than he did, and it showed up on the scoreboard.
“It’s funny, I felt like I pitched so much better than I did in Milwaukee. I got lucky in Milwaukee, and I’m paying for it here.”
Last Sunday, Kershaw held the National League Central-leading Brewers to one run in eight innings in a 5-1 victory.
“He’s the best pitcher in baseball, and he’s been on an incredibly great run,” Braun said. “It’s extremely difficult to beat him, and it hasn’t happened much this year.
“So for us to do that is an impressive accomplishment and something we’re proud of. To split those two games he started is encouraging for us.”