Clayton Kershaw wobbly on emotional night as Dodgers’ winning streak ends

A month after notching his 200th career victory on an exhilarating April night in Chavez Ravine, Clayton Kershaw took the mound on his home field under a different set of emotional circumstances on Tuesday night — it was just three days after the death of his mother, Marianne Tombaugh.

“I think once you get out there and you get into compete mode, that’s just what you know,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “Obviously, he’s never been in this situation before, but I expect it to go well and for him to do what he’s supposed to do.”

Kershaw fell short on both counts in a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins before a sellout crowd of 52,159, grinding through a wobbly four-inning, two-run, seven-hit, 90-pitch start in which he failed to provide much relief for a bullpen that had to cover eight innings in Monday night’s 12-inning victory.

The Dodgers offense was just as flat, going two for 12 with runners in scoring position, the combination of a shaky start and a failure to hit in the clutch snapping the team’s season-high six-game win streak.

Kershaw’s fastball-slider-curveball mix looked sharp at times–the 35-year-old left-hander struck out seven, walked one and induced 17 swinging strikes — but he threw only 57 pitches for strikes, he hit a batter and balked a runner to second who eventually scored.

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Donovan Solano led off with a double to left and scored on Kyle Farmer’s two-out RBI single to left.

Kershaw struck out Carlos Correa with a 73-mph curve with runners on first and third to end the second and Ryan Jeffers looking with a 92-mph fastball with a runner on third to end the third, but he was burned by a leadoff walk to Michael Taylor in the fourth.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman walks to the dugout during a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

Taylor took second on a balk, third on Joey Gallo’s single to right and scored on Willi Castro’s RBI single to left for a 2-0 lead. Minnesota pushed the lead to 3-0 off Shelby Miller in the fifth, Byron Buxton leading off with a walk, stealing second, taking third on Farmer’s groundout and scoring on Jeffers’ safety squeeze.

The Dodgers mustered only one run and six hits in six innings against Twins starter Bailey Ober, a 6-foot-9, 260-pound right-hander who was a 23rd-round pick of the Dodgers in 2016 but opted to return to the College of Charleston (S.C.).

They did not lack chances. Mookie Betts doubled to lead off the first inning, and Max Muncy doubled to lead off the fourth, but neither scored. Muncy took third on J.D. Martinez’s single, putting runners on first and third with no outs, but James Outman and David Peralta both struck out.

With .179-hitting Miguel Rojas at the plate, the Dodgers attempted a double-steal, with Martinez stopping before second and Muncy breaking for home when the throw of Jeffers, the Twins catcher, went through. The gadget play did not work, second baseman Solano fielding Jeffers’ throw and firing home to nail Muncy.

The Dodgers finally nicked Ober in the fifth when Rojas doubled to left and scored on Freddie Freeman’s soft RBI single to center to cut Minnesota’s lead to 3-1. But they failed to capitalize on a leadoff double–this one by Peralta off reliever Brock Stewart — again in the seventh.

Peralta took third on Rojas’ grounder, and Austin Barnes struck out. Betts and Freeman walked to load the bases, but Taylor, the Twins center fielder, sprinted in to make a running catch of pinch-hitter Chris Taylor’s flare to shallow right-center to end the inning.

The Twins tacked on two insurance runs off left-hander Justin Bruihl in the ninth when Buxton doubled to left and Farmer hit a two-run homer to left for a 5-1 lead.