KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Clayton Kershaw followed his first career no-hitter with eight marvelous innings, Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Ethier drove in a run apiece and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0 on Tuesday night.
Kershaw (8-2) allowed six hits and a walk while striking out eight. The two-time Cy Young winner hasn’t allowed a run in 21 1-3 innings, spanning his near-perfect game against Colorado on Wednesday — the only runner occurred on an error — and his previous start against Arizona.
Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his 23rd save.
Danny Duffy (4-7) dueled admirably with Kershaw for six innings, allowing one run on four hits and four walks. But the left-hander was done in by a high pitch count, needing a season-high 105, and was eventually lifted to protect his surgically repaired shoulder.
Eric Hosmer had a pair of hits for the Royals, the first with one out in the first inning to end any thought of Kershaw tossing consecutive no-hitters. Otherwise, their offense was sporadic, unable to string together enough runners to pose much of a threat.
The Dodgers plated their first run after Justin Turner tripled to lead off the game. He scored on a hard grounder by Gonzalez, which deflected off Duffy and toward second base for what nearly ended up being the game’s only run.
Ethier’s RBI single came off reliever Kelvin Herrera in the ninth inning.
Duffy needed 29 pitches to survive the first, and he wiggled out of jams each of the next four innings, too. But while he was gritty enough to keep Kansas City in the game, a lineup that has struggled to put up runs for the last week failed him again.
Kansas City has only scored 13 times while losing five of its last six.
Los Angeles had lost all four of its games played at Kauffman Stadium, including the series opener Monday night, when the Royals beat up on Zack Greinke, their former ace.
They had a much tougher time handling Kershaw.
Showcasing his mid-90s fastball, power curveball and devastating slider, Kershaw at one point retired eight straight. And even when he ran into trouble, he slipped right out of it.
Kershaw induced a double play after Hosmer’s single in the first. He rallied from a 3-0 count to Alex Gordon to strike him out with a runner aboard in the sixth. In the seventh, he got Justin Maxwell and Alcides Escobar on groundouts to leave a pair of runners on base.
In fact, the biggest blight on Kershaw’s night may have been his walk to Gordon in the fifth inning. It was only the second he’d allowed to a left-handed hitter this season.
Kershaw pitches Dodgers to 2-0 win over Royals
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