Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw tips his cap to the Dodgers Stadium crowd after pitching his last regular season home game against the San Francisco Giants on Fri Sep 19, 2025. Kershaw is retiring after the 2025 post season. (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (76-78) dropped a second game to the Los Angeles Dodgers (87-67) 6-3 mid-way through their four-game series. They had distraction to contend with as the final appearance of Clayton Kershaw was the focus of much of this game.

They did take the early lead but the Dodgers turned the tables on them in the fifth inning, Kershaw’s final inning. In the bottom of the fifth inning Los Angeles hit back-to-back home runs off the bats of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts taking a 5-2 lead.

Game recap: The Giants sent a message in the first at bat in the first inning. Heliot Ramos hit a solo home run to center for 431 feet taking an early 1-0 lead. San Francisco will be looking to add some insurance runs early in the game and put up a lot more hits on the board than last nights one hit. It was a lackluster offensive effort and the Giants have got to get their bats going especially against a team with the lineup that the Dodgers have.

The Mets have already won tonight, the Reds have already won and the Diamondbacks lost to the Phillies by the score of 8-2. This is simply another must win for San Francisco.

The Giants were unable to add any runs in the second inning but the Dodgers did tie up the game in the second off the bat of Miguel Rojas 1-1 who homered to left center. San Francisco broke the tie in the third inning taking the lead back 2-1.

Wilmer Flores singled driving base runner Matt Chapman home from third base and San Francisco already had three hits in this game. Through three innings Kershaw already had four walks but also had four strikeouts. This was of course an extremely emotional game for him and manager Dave Roberts was hoping he could get through five innings.

Kershaw took the mound for the final time in the fifth inning. It all started with a strikeout in 2008 and it ended in the fifth inning this evening striking out Rafael Devers. He was relieved by Edgardo Henriquez but not before a huge ovation at Dodger Stadium erupted and Kershaw received an ovation full of appreciation, respect and love from Dave Roberts, his teammates and everyone in the stadium.

We all got to witness history. To make this inning even more memorable, Otani went on to hit a 3-run home run giving the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. Mookie Betts kept the party going coming to the plate and hitting another home run giving Los Angeles a 5-2 lead.

San Francisco pitcher Robbie Ray exited the game after 5 2/3 innings. He was relieved by Spencer Bivens. The Dodgers roughed him up in the bottom of the fifth inning hitting the back-to-back home runs. That would be it for Ray.

The Dodgers would add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Andy Pages doubled Rojas home from second base giving Los Angeles a 6-2 lead. The Giants had given up back-to-back doubles but finally got out of the inning. Going into the seventh inning San Francisco had a lot of work left to do but were running out of innings.

The Giants would make up a little ground scoring a run in the seventh inning but still trailing 6-3. Chapman singled Willy Adames home from second base. Going into the eighth inning San Francisco needed hits but instead went three and out. They were three outs away from dropping game two of the series.

San Francisco put two runners on base in the ninth inning. Christian Koss singled and Adames walked with one out. Devers struck out and the Giants were down to their last out. Chapman popped out and that was the ball game 6-3 in favor of the Dodgers.

Game notes: Friday evening the Giants lost the Dodgers in game two of their four game series. This is the final series between these two rival teams this season. Friday night’s game also marks the final time the Giants saw Clayton Kershaw on the mound.

Kershaw entered the game with 415 strikeouts with his lowest ERA a sparkling 2.08. Whether you are a Giants fan or a Dodgers fan there is no argument that he is one of the greatest pitchers to ever start for Los Angeles.

He has without doubt made life pretty miserable for the Giants through the years. It is hard to imagine baseball without him but this day comes for all of these guys when they make the difficult decision to leave the game.

He has worn “Dodger Blue” for 18 years so he will go into this game with mixed emotions. He sure has given Dodger fans so much to celebrate and cheer for. For San Francisco starter Robbie Ray 4.2 innings allowed 4.2 innings, five hits, five earned runs, two walks and five strike outs. Kershaw pitched 4.1 innings, four hits, two runs, four walks and six strikeouts.

San Francisco now has some ground to make up if they want to tie this series. Trailing 2-0 in the series has pretty much knocked them out of playoff contention. Saturday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM. Kai Wei Teng will take the mound for San Francisco with a 2-4 win/loss record and a 6.41 ERA. The Dodgers will start Tyler Glasnow. He has a 3-3 win/loss record and a 3.06 ERA.

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