Dodgers unload after no-hitter
Hairston has 5 RBIS, including a 3-run homer, in a bounce-back win.
DODGERS 8 SEATTLE 3
SEATTLE — On the day after the Dodgers succumbed to a no-hitter by a sextet of Seattle Mariners pitchers, Dee Gordon opened Saturday’s game with an infield single.
Clayton Kershaw’s pitching and Jerry Hairston Jr.’s hitting took it from there, with Hairston’s career-high five runs batted in leading the Dodgers to an 8-3 win over Seattle to quickly put the Mariners’ no-hitter in the rearview mirror.
The Dodgers needed the interleague victory to maintain their four-game lead in the National League West over the second-place San
Francisco Giants, who also won.
Hairston slugged a threerun home run in the first inning and later had two runscoring doubles on a chilly, cloudy day at Safeco Field.
“We just wanted to turn the page — it’s a new day — and I felt we did that today,” Hairston said.
Kershaw, meanwhile, struck out 12 Mariners — a season high — in his seven innings of work and improved his record to 5-3.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner made one mistake when he gave up a three-run homer to Miguel Olivo in the fourth inning, one of four hits Kershaw allowed.
“I wish my mistakes didn’t go over the fence and cost me three runs,” Kershaw said. “Fortunately for me, Jerry Hairston played today.”
After Gordon singled in the first inning against Mariners starter Jason Vargas, Andre Ethier — the Dodgers’ designated hitter Saturday in the American League park — walked. Hairston then slammed his home run down the left-field line.
In the third inning, Hairston again pulled the ball for a double off the left-field wall, driving in Elian Herrera, who had singled.
James Loney followed with a single to score Hairston and give the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.
Seattle got back in the game in the fourth inning when Justin Smoak singled, Kyle Seager walked, and Kershaw gave up the home run to Olivo on a slider that missed its mark.
“I don’t care about giving up home runs, but they just can’t be three-run homers; they’ve got to be solo shots,” Kershaw said, adding that his sore left foot didn’t disrupt his pitching Saturday. “Fortunately for me, three runs didn’t cost us today.”
That’s largely because Kershaw “was able to shut the door after that,” Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said.
And in the eighth inning, Juan Rivera singled and scored on Hairston’s second double of the game, this one to right-center field against Seattle reliever Shawn Kelley. Hairston, who has played in 32 games this season, is batting .366 with 12 RBIs.
The Dodgers added two runs in the ninth inning when Tony Gwynn Jr. and Gordon both singled and later scored — Gwynn by sliding home ahead of second baseman Seager’s throw on a fielder’s choice and Gordon on Rivera’s sacrifice fly.
The win “tells you that guys recovered from last night,” Mattingly said. The no-hitter, he added, “didn’t set us off into any tailspin.”