DENVER -- Welcome back to the big leagues, kid. And welcome to Coors Field.
Clayton Kershaw's second stint in the majors started with a bang -- make that a bang, bang, bang -- as the highly touted 20-year-old left-hander was hammered by the Colorado Rockies for five runs and 10 hits in three-plus innings of a 10-1 loss at Coors Field on Tuesday night that dropped the Dodgers out of a first-place tie with Arizona in the National League West.
Kershaw (0-3), who gave up a home run in the second inning to Brad Hawpe and four runs in a four-hit, two-walk third, didn't blame Denver's high altitude on the trajectory of the balls hit by the Rockies. He said he was almost mystified by what transpired.
"I felt like I had pretty good command tonight," said Kershaw, adding that he felt similar to how he did posting a 2-0 record and 1.00 earned-run average in three starts at double-A Jacksonville after being sent down to the minors on July 2.
"You'd almost rather it be a command problem than to get hit like that. . . . You keep saying that you want to learn, you keep saying that you want to try to take away stuff from every game, but I think I'm going to put this one out of my mind."
While the Rockies piled up runs the way runs are often piled up in this mile-high ballpark, the Dodgers produced the kind of offensive numbers typified this season on days they haven't faced out-of-sync pitchers like Colorado's Monday starter, Kip Wells, or Arizona closer Brandon Lyon.
A home run by Matt Kemp to start the ninth inning was all that saved the Dodgers from the indignity of joining San Diego and San Francisco as the only teams to be shut out at Coors Field this season, as Ubaldo Jimenez tossed the first complete game of his major league career.
Jimenez (6-9) retired 13 consecutive batters in one stretch that started at the end of the first inning and ran through the fifth and limited the Dodgers to four hits.
Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said he had no problem with the approach taken by his hitters, who scored a season-high 16 runs Monday night only to let Jimenez complete the first seven innings on 75 pitches.
"He was getting ahead -- that's a little uncharacteristic," Torre said of Jimenez, who entered the game averaging 4.7 walks per nine innings. The 24-year old right-hander walked two on this night.
Dodgers third baseman Andy LaRoche, who had a hit and a walk, shrugged when asked what happened.
