LOS ANGELES (AP) â€" Carlos Gomez tied a career high with four hits, including a a go-ahead two-run single against Clayton Kershaw, and the Milwaukee Brewers handed the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner his third loss in five starts with a 6-3 victory on Wednesday night.
Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp, playing his second game since coming off the disabled list, re-injured his left hamstring while scoring all the way from first base on a two-out double by Andre Ethier in the first inning. Last year's MVP runner-up was replaced in the field by Tony Gwynn Jr. in the second.
Yovani Gallardo (4-4) was charged with three runs and eight hits in six-plus innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. The right-hander was lifted after the Dodgers loaded the bases with none out in the seventh, and Elian Herrera slapped Manny Parra's first pitch the other way through the right side to cut the Brewers' lead to 5-3.
Parra minimized the damage by striking out James Loney and retiring Gwynn on a double-play grounder, one of three the Dodgers hit into in consecutive innings. The Brewers got an insurance run in the eighth, and John Axford followed Francisco Rodriguez out of the bullpen to get his 10th save in 11 chances.
Kershaw (4-3) allowed with five runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings, walked four and struck out seven. The left-hander retired only six of his final 15 batters, three on bunt plays and one on a double play. Kershaw is 0-3 with an 8.47 ERA in his four starts against the Brewers at Dodger Stadium, compared to 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA in his two starts at Miller Park.
Los Angeles still owns the best record in the majors at 32-18 despite its first three-game losing streak of the season, and leads San Francisco by 5½ games in the NL West. The Dodgers were the only team that hadn't lost more than two in a row.
After giving up the Dodgers' first run, Gallardo walked his next two batters before retiring A.J. Ellis on a line drive that held up for Gomez in center field.
Gomez put the Brewers ahead 2-1 in the fourth with a bases-loaded two-run single through the left side of the infield, and they tacked on three more runs in the sixth.
Rickie Weeks led off with a double and scored on a safety-squeeze bunt to first base by Martin Maldonado. Gallardo followed with an RBI single that hit the left field fence on the fly, chasing Kershaw after 117 pitches.
Corey Hart's bloop single against Javy Guerra put runners at the corners, and Norichika Aoki used his speed to turn a routine grounder to second base into an RBI single as Herrera fielded the ball flat-footed and was a step too late with the throw.
NOTES: Gallardo threw 35 pitches in the first inning and Kershaw made 34 in the fourth. ... Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he "heard a pop" in his right calf while stretching on Wednesday afternoon, and held his usually pregame press briefing in the middle of the clubhouse instead of in the dugout. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt went to the mound instead of Mattingly to remove Kershaw and Kenley Jansen. ... Brewers C Jonathan Lucroy will undergo surgery Thursday on to put a pin in his broken right hand. Lucroy was injured Sunday night when his wife moved a suitcase in their hotel room and it fell on his hand. ... Weeks struck out twice, and has fanned a league-worst 64 times. The nine-year veteran is averaging a strikeout every 4.42 plate appearances over his nine-year career. ... The crowd of 25,509 was down considerably with the Kings playing Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals in New Jersey. The first two periods were shown live in its entirety on the video board â€" minus commercials â€" and a replay of Anze Kopitar's overtime goal for the Kings was shown at the end of the third inning.
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