Dodgers rout Rangers behind five home runs and Clayton Kershaw’s stellar pitching

On a night of all-you-can-eat offense, Clayton Kershaw produced two singles and an RBI on Friday for the Dodgers.

He pitched pretty well too, surrendering only three hits and an unearned run in a 12-1 Dodgers victory over the Texas Rangers.

The game didn’t feel even that close as the home team pounded Rangers pitching early. The Dodgers established a season high with five home runs — by the end of the fourth inning.

Texas resorted to using position player Charlie Culberson to pitch the eighth. The former Dodger worked a scoreless inning, giving up only an AJ Pollock infield single.

As one-sided as the score was, the developments weren’t all great for the Dodgers.

Max Muncy was removed before the top of the second for what the team said was right-side tightness.

The Dodgers also lost Cody Bellinger for the night in the fifth after he reached on an RBI single. It was announced that he had tightness in his left hamstring.

The Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger is taken out of the game during the fifth inning. It was announced that he had tightness in his left hamstring.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Kershaw’s dominant night — he finished with nine strikeouts in six innings — came with a new catcher, Will Smith.

Austin Barnes, who had caught each of Kershaw’s first 13 starts, was held out as he works his way back from an ankle injury. Barnes started Thursday in Pittsburgh and is expected to be back in the lineup Sunday.

Kershaw retired the first six Rangers hitters and then pitched around a Culberson double leading off the third by striking out three in a row.

He topped himself in the fourth by striking out four in an inning, tying a franchise record. The second of those strikeouts failed to be an actual out when Adolis Garcia reached base on a wild pitch.

Still, by the end of the fourth, Kershaw had struck out seven in a row and eight overall. His streak ended at seven when Nate Lowe opened the fifth by grounding out to second.

Kershaw (8-5) kept Texas scoreless until the sixth, when the Rangers scored on a forceout.

The Dodgers set the mood early on offense behind 1,239 feet of home runs in the opening inning. Muncy, Justin Turner and Gavin Lux each homered off Rangers starter Mike Foltynewicz to open a 6-0 lead.

Muncy also drove in Mookie Betts, who had reached on an error, with his 428-foot shot on Foltynewicz’s seventh pitch. Just two pitches later, Turner produced a 395-foot solo homer.

After Bellinger walked and Chris Taylor singled, Lux sent a Foltynewicz curveball 416 feet over the wall in center.

Lux began Friday with no RBIs for the month. When he added a run-scoring double in the third, he had four RBIs for the night.

The Dodgers’ attack also included a solo homer by Pujols, No. 672 for his career, and a solo shot by Smith.

Albert Pujols connects for a solo home run in the fourth inning — one of the Dodgers’ season-best five homers on the night.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Manager Dave Roberts said he wanted to give Barnes consecutive days off from starting as he continues to heal.

Roberts also said Smith catching Kershaw is “beneficial for everybody” moving forward because the familiarity can only help over the course of a 162-game season.

“The way that it’s played out right now,” Roberts said, “I definitely don’t think it’s a bad thing to have Will catch him.”

Kershaw was coming off back-to-backs losses. He gave up five earned runs in six innings in each of those starts.

“There’s really nothing in the sequence or the delivery,” Roberts said. “It’s more of just being victim of that big inning. With Clayton, when he gets two outs, usually you put an end to the inning. That just hasn’t happened.”

San Francisco had a three-run first against Kershaw on May 30. Atlanta scored five runs in the third against him Saturday. All five of the Braves’ runs came after two outs.

“If you look at the body of work over the collection of innings, it’s been really good,” Roberts said. “There have been a lot of zeroes. But, again, victim of that one big inning.”

Also Friday, Roberts called it “reasonable” that shortstop Corey Seager could begin a rehabilitation assignment in the next two weeks. Seager has been out since a pitch broke the fifth metacarpal on his right hand May 15.

Roberts said he expects Seager to need at least seven games before being ready to rejoin the Dodgers.

The Dodgers (38-25) have won four in a row and five of seven. Their mark of 13 games above .500 is a season high.