Dodgers 7, Rockies 3: Rockies get to Clayton Kershaw, but it is not enough

In the NBA, they call games like this a "schedule loss." When seeing the pitching matchup of Kyle Kendrick vs. Clayton Kershaw, it was pretty easy to figure this was going to be a rough night for the Rockies, and it was.

The Dodgers wasted no time in getting to Kendrick. After Jimmy Rollins walked to lead off the bottom of the first, Adrian Gonzalez had  an RBI double and Howie Kendrick hit a two-run home run to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead after an inning of play.

Down 3-0 to Kershaw at Dodger Stadium, it might be fair to think "turn out the lights, the party's over," but Troy Tulowitzki had other ideas, leading off the fourth with his first home run of the season, a line drive down the left field line that cut the Dodgers' lead to 3-1.

The Dodgers got the run back in the bottom of the fourth when Kendrick uncorked a wild pitch with Yasmani Grandal on third and Kershaw at the plate, extending the Rockies' deficit back to three at 4-1.

However, the Rockies weren't done scoring against Kershaw. Drew Stubbs reached on an error in the fifth and was brought home when Charlie Blackmon became just the second lefty to homer against Kershaw since the start of 2014, his two-run home run cutting LA's lead to 4-3 heading to the bottom of the fifth.

Like in the previous inning, Kendrick proceeded to give the two runs the Rockies scored right back in the bottom of the fifth. He gave up a single to Carl Crawford and back-to-back doubles to Gonzalez and Kendrick to let the lead get back to 6-3 before being pulled with two outs in the inning. Kendrick allowed six runs, all earned, on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings with four walks and six strikeouts, his ERA rising to 7.56 on the season.

Kershaw lasted just six innings, allowing three runs, one earned, on six hits with a walk and a dozen strikeouts.

The Dodgers got an insurance run against Christian Friedrich in the seventh, but it did not matter as Paco Rodriguez, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore each pitched scoreless innings to close out the win for the home team.

The series continues tomorrow when Jordan Lyles takes on Zack Greinke.

Source: FanGraphs