SAN FRANCISCO -- Over the Dodgers' past seven games, their starting pitchers led the way with one dominant performance after another. But when Clayton Kershaw was hit around early on Saturday night, the offense picked him up.
Teoscar Hernández's three-hit, three-RBI effort helped the Dodgers beat the Giants, 13-7, evening the three-game set at Oracle Park. Los Angeles maintained its 2 1/2-game lead in the NL West on a night that San Diego also won.
"Everybody picked me up. We scored a bunch of runs. That was awesome to see," Kershaw said. "Bad day for me, but the team came through. That’s all that matters."
The offensive outburst saw every Dodger in the starting lineup get a hit except for Max Muncy, who is expected to be fine after being hit by a pitch on the side of the head in the sixth inning.
"Just going into the games, getting closer to October," Hernández said, "everybody is trying to do the little things. Not trying to do too much and just getting on base for the next guy."
The Giants sent nine batters to the plate against Kershaw in the first inning, staking a 4-1 lead. The Dodgers responded by loading the bases before Giants starter Logan Webb was able to record an out in the second, but they came away empty-handed after Ben Rortvedt grounded into an inning-ending double play with Shohei Ohtani on deck.
By the time Kershaw's evening on the mound came to an end after three innings and 67 pitches, his team had inched closer on Ohtani's 49th homer of the season -- which was the longest by a Dodger this year, at a Statcast-projected 454 feet -- and an RBI double from Hernández.
"It's tough when you've got one out and Shohei's on deck, and then you can't get to him," Roberts said of the offense's response to the missed opportunity in the second. "But he started off that next inning with a homer and got us back feeling good about ourselves."
Sure enough, the Dodgers' bats really came alive starting in the fifth inning. They again loaded the bases before recording an out -- chasing Webb from the game -- but this time, they did not waste it.
Hernández kicked things off with a go-ahead two-run double off reliever José Buttó. Michael Conforto, Ben Rortvedt and Mookie Betts all notched RBIs as the Dodgers kept the line moving for a six-run inning.
The Giants quickly responded with three runs off Kirby Yates in the bottom of the fifth, but the Dodgers again managed to hit their way out of potential trouble, plating another trio of runs in the top of the sixth to remain comfortably in front.
Not only were the Dodgers putting together better situational at-bats than they had the night before -- which has been a focus of late -- but Roberts was particularly pleased with how his team executed with two strikes.
"With two strikes, you got to give something up. And I think for me tonight, I saw us give up the pull side," Roberts said. "And then you're starting to get hits to the big part of the field, hits the other way to the other gap. Winning pitches. And we did that all night long."
While the Dodgers got contributions from up and down the lineup, arguably their biggest hits came from Hernández, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles. This week, the veteran outfielder has begun to show signs of breaking out of an extended slump.
Hernández has hit safely in three of his past four games, including another three-hit effort on Tuesday against the Rockies. Before that stretch, he hit .208 with a .623 OPS in his first 85 games after an IL stint due to a left groin strain in May.
"I finally feel like myself," Hernández said. "Every coordination that I work on in the cage, everything that I try to do in the cage before the game, I've been doing it these past five days. So it's definitely getting closer to where I was before I got hurt at the beginning of the season.
"It's getting better at the right time, right before the season ends. We're still fighting, trying to win some games to get closer to the second spot [in the overall NL standings]. Just keep working and let everything go on the field."