LOS ANGELES — On the final day of the 2008 regular season, a 20-year-old Clayton Kershaw jogged in from the bullpen at then-AT&T Park to pitch the bottom of the sixth. Despite two hits and an intentional walk, the left-handed rookie with the high-90s heater and knee-buckling curveball tossed a scoreless inning.
In the ensuing years, the Giants became all too familiar with Kershaw’s propensity for putting up zeros.
Kershaw will make the final regular-season start of his Hall of Fame career on Friday evening at Dodger Stadium, and appropriately enough, that outing will be against the Giants. He’s faced them more than any other opponent (62 games, 60 starts), and he’s had success against them more than any other opponent (2.08 ERA, 415 strikeouts).
The two parties have had their share of battles over the last 18 seasons. Kershaw was on the winning end more often than not, but that didn’t mean the Giants didn’t also get in their licks.
Here are some of the most memorable moments in the lineage of Kershaw versus the Giants:
April 15, 2009: The first start
Kershaw’s first appearance against the Giants was the aforementioned relief appearance on Sept. 28, 2008, but this was his first start in the rivalry. It was in front of a crowd of 42,511 and Kershaw struck out 13 batters over seven innings and outdueled Matt Cain. Kershaw allowed one lone hit that night, a solo home run to Bengie Molina.
July 20, 2010: Tensions flare in Los Angeles
Kershaw has been suspended only once in his career, a punishment he earned on a July night at Dodger Stadium against the Giants.
In the bottom of the fifth, Tim Lincecum inadvertently hit Matt Kemp. Despite the unintentional nature of the plunking, both benches were warned when Kemp began veering toward the mound after being hit.
Two innings later, Kershaw hit Aaron Rowand — a beaning that was deemed intentional. Kershaw, as well as manager Joe Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer, were ejected from the game.
The domino effect of that move played out in the top of the ninth when Don Mattingly, the Dodgers’ acting manager, infamously was forced to make a bullpen change after making two trips to the mound. The Giants took advantage of the blunder, scoring three runs in the ninth to steal a win in Chavez Ravine.
The following day, Kershaw was handed a five-game suspension and fined an undisclosed amount.
March 31, 2011: Ace versus ace
The primes of Lincecum and Kershaw never truly aligned. Lincecum was the best pitcher in baseball in ‘08 and ‘09, winning Cy Youngs in both years, then led the Giants to their first San Francisco title in ’10. Kershaw’s first truly elite season was ‘11, this Opening Day matchup kicking off his first Cy Young campaign.
Lincecum was great on this evening, allowing one unearned run over seven innings with five strikeouts. Kershaw, though, was just a bit better, pitching seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts to one walk.
Lincecum and Kershaw faced each other four times in 2011, and on all four occasions, Kershaw walked away with the win. Lincecum was exceptional in these battles, allowing four runs over 29 innings (1.24 ERA) with 23 strikeouts. Kershaw, though, was unhittable, allowing one earned run over 30 1/3 innings (0.30 ERA) with 36 strikeouts.
April 1, 2013: Kershaw does it all
For the second time in three years, the Giants rolled into Dodger Stadium as the defending World Series champions for Opening Day. For the second time in three years, Kershaw silenced San Francisco’s offense en route to beginning a Cy Young campaign.
Kershaw effectively did everything for the Dodgers on this afternoon. With his arm, he pitched a shutout. With his bat, he slugged a solo home run off George Kontos that broke a scoreless tie, the first and only home run of his career.
It was complete and total domination for Kershaw, who became the first pitcher to throw a shutout and hit a home run on opening day since Bob Lemon on April 14, 1953.
May 21, 2015: Bumgarner goes yard
Beginning on April 11, 2011, Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner went head-to-head on 13 occasions. Kershaw did Kershaw things (92 innings, 2.15 ERA, 100 strikeouts), but Bumgarner held his own (78 innings, 3.12 ERA, 82 strikeouts).
There was no shortage of pitcher’s duels between the two lefties, but the most memorable moments of their head-to-head battles involved Bumgarner in the box and Kershaw on the mound.
In the bottom of the third, Kershaw tried to sneak a middle-middle fastball by Bumgarner, who already had six career home runs entering that at-bat. Bumgarner put barrel to ball and sent it over the left-field fence, becoming the first pitcher to ever homer against Kershaw.
Less than a year later, Kershaw served up a similarly-placed four-seamer and Bumgarner, again, lifted off, joining the exclusive list of hitters to take Kershaw deep twice.
Sept. 29, 2015: Kershaw sends Los Angeles to postseason
The circumstances of this game were clear. If the Dodgers won, they clinched the NL West. By the end of the night, the Dodgers were popping champagne as Kershaw delivered a masterpiece: nine innings, no runs, one hit, one walk, 13 strikeouts.
Kershaw also made an impact with his bat, coaxing 13 pitches out of Bumgarner in the top of the fifth before grounding out. Due in part to that battle, Bumgarner failed to pitch at least six innings for the first time in two months.
Aug. 8, 2020: Slater goes deep twice
The list of batters who can claim legitimate ownage against Kershaw is small. Austin Slater owns a prominent spot on that list.
There have only six players with at least four home runs against Kershaw in the regular season: Adam Dunn, Fernando Tatis Jr., Charlie Blackmon, Christian Walker, Nolan Arenado and Slater. For Slater, two of those home runs were hit in one game at an empty Dodger Stadium during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Slater’s first blast of the evening was a true wall-scraper in the top of the third, barely clearing the center-field fence to give the Giants an early 1-0 lead. In the top of the fifth, Slater once again sent an offering from Kershaw over the center-field fence, becoming the only Giant to hit multiple homers off Kershaw in the same game.
There are 64 players who have had at least 30 plate appearances against Kershaw in the regular season. And among that group, no player has an OPS higher than Austin Slater’s 1.123.
