Kevin Gausman just completed one of the most dominant months of May in Major League Baseball yet there’s at least a minor concern of what is to come in June.
Gausman, en route to six dominant shutout innings in a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday at Dodger Stadium, aggravated a hip condition which has been bothering him for some time and didn’t come out for the seventh.
The Giants’ bullpen held on, just barely, as San Francisco successfully counter-punched a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers May 21-24 at Oracle Park and beat their old nemesis Clayton Kershaw in the process.
The condition of Gausman’s hip, manager Gabe Kapler said, worsened because of two plays — running the bases after a run-scoring single against Kershaw in the fourth inning, and bouncing off the mound to throw out Matt Beaty to end the sixth.
“That last play definitely didn’t feel good on it,” Gausman said in a postgame video conference. “Talking with Kap after that, it was like, `You’ve done your job today.’ I would have liked to have gone another inning or more. I felt I was throwing the ball well, but in the big scheme of things, what’s another inning?”
Gausman said he’s confident he’ll make his next start but Kapler said tests would be taken before making any decisions.
“We’re going to get him scanned just for some piece of mind,” Kapler said.
The Giants will keep their fingers crossed. Gausman (6-0) was as good against the Dodgers as he’s been all season. He threw 72 pitches in six innings — an incredible 62 for strikes — with no walks and seven strikeouts.
In the month of May, Gausman was 5-0 with an 0.72 earned run average in 37 innings, giving up 22 hits with six walks and 49 strikeouts.
“He pitched brilliantly. In a perfect world we keep running him out there,” Kapler said. “But we really need to listen to our pitchers and in particular Gausman, who’s tough, wants the ball so much. We have to be respectful when his body is not responding the way it wants to.”
The Giants improved to 33-20 in the National League West and are a half game behind the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers are two games behind the Giants at 31-22.
The Giants took charge early against Kershaw (7-4), who gave up three first-inning runs to his rivals for the first time in his 50th career start against them. Mauricio Dubon had the big blow with a two-run home run off the foul pole, his third of the season.
Austin Slater, who homered twice against Kershaw last August, also homered for the Giants, a solo shot, in the fourth. For the Dodgers, Max Muncy hit a two-run home run in the eighth against Zack Littel and Albert Pujols a two-run shot in the ninth against Jake McGee, who nonetheless got his 12th save.
Gausman departed in favor of Jarlin Garcia after the play to get Beaty after conferring with Kapler and trainer Dave Groeschner.
“It kind of grabs now and then,” Gausman said. “I’m a big leg kick guy. I kind of kick my leg out and gather myself before I go home. It kind of pushes the leg down a little early sometime. That’s the only thing that concerns me is sometimes it has a mind of its own and decides what it wants to do, but the training staff has been great for me here. I haven’t missed a start yet and don’t plan to.”
DUBON’S ANSWER TO BAUER
After Dubon’s first-inning home run against Kershaw, he mimicked Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer, who pretended to sheathe a sword after a big strikeout during the series at Oracle.
“Those guys are having fun, we’re having fun,” Dubon said. “They did it over there, I did it over here. It’s something I was thinking. I told the guys I was going to do it. It’s baseball.”
Kapler said he enjoyed it because it was done out of enthusiasm and for fun without malice.
“I think across the game, across the industry right now, both players and fans are really appreciating the emotion that players are showing,” Kapler said. “It was Dubon’s way of having fun, keeping things light and enjoying himself on the field.”
After his home run, his second against Kershaw in his career, Dubon dropped a perfect bunt single down the third base line in the fourth inning.
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 30, 2021
The Giants historic first inning against Kershaw started with a solid single to left by Slater, followed by another single from Donovan Solano.
Both runners advanced on a wild pitch to Wilmer Flores, who struck out, with Slater coming home on a ground ball out to short by Evan Longoria.
Dubon was next, and he hit the first pitch he saw high and deep to left, giving it all the body language he could muster as the ball hit well up on the foul pole for a two-run home run and a 3-0 lead.
“Lately I’ve been hitting balls really hard and they ended up going foul,” Dubon said. “I hit it and I was a little upset because I got a pitch to hit and thought it was going to end up foul, but it ended up hitting the foul pole. It was pretty crazy.”
ETCETERA
— Catcher Curt Casalli, who has been nursing a wrist injury, grimaced after a strikeout in the eighth inning but remained in the game.
— The Giants have won 10 of their last 14 games and are 19-13 on the road, the second best road record in the N.L. behind the Padres.
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Giants jump on Kershaw, Gausman shines in taking three of four from Dodgers - The Mercury News
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