On the night before Harpermas, the Washington Nationals were held to three hits by Los Angeles Dodgers pitching and fell to the National League West leaders, 3-2 Friday at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run home run by Andre Ethier off of Ross Detwiler and increased their lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning when Matt Kemp scored on Juan Uribe's infield single.
Washington made the score 3-2 in the top of the sixth inning, after Adam LaRoche hit a two-run home run into the Nationals bullpen. But with the exception of LaRoche, the Nationals were stymied by defending National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who allowed three hits (two to LaRoche) and two earned runs over eight innings while striking out six and walking one.
Kenley Jansen recorded his first save of the season, though he had a frightening moment in the ninth inning when Danny Espinosa lined an opposite-field shot just to the right of the right-field foul pole.
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