IAN QUILLEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — For five innings of his first career start, Blake Treinen’s arm kept him in a pitcher’s duel with Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.
In the sixth, his glove let him down.
Treinen’s failure to field a comebacker sparked a three-run sixth inning and the Washington Nationals went on to allow five more runs in an 8-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I feel like I made pitches when I needed to and had some good defense behind me,” said Treinen (0-1), who bobbled Kershaw’s chopper and then was chased by three consecutive singles.
He allowed three unearned runs in five-plus innings.
Kershaw (2-0) pitched seven shutout innings in his first outing since opening day, and Hanley Ramirez and Drew Butera homered off the Nationals’ bullpen.
“If I field that ball to start the sixth there, it might be a totally different ballgame,” said Treinen, who allowed seven hits and no walks, while striking out two.
Manager Matt Williams said Treinen will be sent back to Triple-A Syracuse, with a roster move to be announced on Wednesday.
“It’s been kind of a hit and miss with him because of some need up here and some decisions we had to make,” Williams said of Treinen, who made three relief appearances for the Nationals in April. “So it would be nice to get him on a normal rotation so he can just take it from here, from this start, and move forward.”
Jayson Werth had four hits for the Nationals, who scored their three runs off Dodgers reliever Chris Perez in the eighth.
Coming off a pair of minor league rehabilitation starts, Kershaw threw 89 pitches and worked out of a pair of jams.
Anthony Rendon and Werth singled to start the fourth, but Adam LaRoche popped out and Kershaw struck out Scott Hairston and Ian Desmond.
In the sixth, Rendon led off with a single, but Kershaw picked him off. Werth and LaRoche followed with singles before Kershaw again fanned Hairston and Desmond.
“He was nasty,” Nationals Catcher Jose Lobaton said of Kershaw. “He was right in the zone. He was throwing strikes, aggressive, big curveball. There’s nothing bad that I can say about him.”
The 25-year-old Treinen matched Kershaw for five innings. He allowed seven hits and no walks, while striking out two.
In the sixth inning, however, he was part of his own undoing as the Dodgers loaded the bases on three balls that didn’t leave the infield.
After Treinen misplayed Kershaw’s leadoff grounder for an error, Dee Gordon’s grounder to first base was bobbled by LaRoche, though the play was ruled a hit.
Carl Crawford followed with a dribbler up the first base line for a single and, with the bases loaded, Ramirez singled to right, scoring Kershaw and ending Treinen’s night.
“We talked to him after the game about it and he was disappointed that he gave up some runs,” Williams said. “I said, ‘You know, that’s a pretty good lineup over there, facing a pretty good pitcher, and you held your own. You should be proud of that.'”
After reliever Craig Stammen fanned Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Gordon, then Juan Uribe’s broken-bat single made it 3-0.
The Dodgers added a run with two outs in the seventh and four more in the eighth when Ramirez homered leading off and Butera capped the inning with a three-run shot for an 8-0 lead.
Lobaton singled in two runs off Perez in the eighth before Werth also drove in a run on his fourth single of the game.
NOTES: Nationals OF Nate McLouth had a bandaged right hand Tuesday following his diving catch in foul territory during Monday night’s game. The cut didn’t require stitches and McLouth said he was available to play. . Washington C Wilson Ramos (hand) took regular batting practice Tuesday and pronounced himself “ready to go.” He could rejoin the team as early as Wednesday. . Manager Matt Williams said the latest X-rays on 3B Ryan Zimmerman (right thumb) “were great, and he’s on the path to begin his rehab as soon as possible.” . Former National Dan Haren (4-0, 2.39) opposes Stephen Strasburg (2-2, 3.60) in Wednesday’s series finale.
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