A comedy of errors, but Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw can laugh about it

As Clayton Kershaw pitched his latest masterpiece in what is shaping into a season for the ages, his teammates made some history of their own Monday night in a 9-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Only in the case of the other players, the history they made was completely unwanted.

Yasiel Puig, A.J. Ellis and Hanley Ramirez made throwing errors on the same sixth-inning play, making the Dodgers the fourth team ever to commit three errors on a single play. No team has made more.

“Just another bizarre play in a bizarre game,” Ellis said.

Kershaw was left standing by home plate with the ball in his hand at the end of the play, which resulted in two unearned runs. He flipped the ball in the air and walked back toward the mound as it hit the ground.

“I didn’t look up and see a moon,” Manager Don Mattingly said.

The sequence had a minimal impact on the game; it merely reduced the Dodgers’ lead to 8-3. The Dodgers were never seriously threatened as they moved a season-high 20 games over .500 (82-62) and extended their lead to 31/2 games over second-place San Francisco in the National League West.

“I guess it could be funny,” Mattingly said. “It’s only funny if you’re winning.”

Kershaw went on to become baseball’s first 18-game winner and lower his earned-run average to a major league-best 1.67, limiting the Padres to one earned run and three hits over eight innings, and appears to be closing in on his third Cy Young Award.

The last left-hander to finish a season with an ERA of 1.70 or lower was Carl Hubbell in 1933.

The latest three-error play happened far more recently. The Angels did it in a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers on April 20.

For the Dodgers, their moment of infamy came with the game more or less decided.

They were ahead 8-1 when Rene Rivera stepped to the plate to face Kershaw with one out and men on first and second base.

Rivera popped up to shallow center field to Puig, who threw on the run in an attempt to double off Rymer Liriano at first base. The ball skipped by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and bounced off the netting in front of the visiting dugout.

Ellis retrieved the ball and fired it to second base, where Liriano was headed. It sailed past Dee Gordon and into center field, where Ramirez, the shortstop, happened to be stationed.

The lead runner, Yangervis Solarte, ran home, prompting an errant throw toward the plate from Ramirez. Kershaw ran across both batter’s boxes and dived in a futile attempt to the stop the ball, which went to the backstop.

Ellis retrieved the ball again and threw to Kershaw, who was covering the plate. But Kershaw hopped back as Liriano slid in.

“Well, I didn’t know where the plate was,” Kershaw said. “That’s why I kind of jumped out of the way.”

Kershaw said he didn’t flip the ball in disgust.

“I knocked the wind out of me diving,” he said, explaining that he wanted a moment to catch his breath.

Kershaw smiled as he said the play would be replayed on a blooper reel for a while.

The game was otherwise completely normal for Kershaw, meaning he was in complete control. He didn’t allow a Padres player to reach base in the first three innings. He struck out eight and walked two.

“Not going to bend at all,” Ellis said. “He’s just going to keep coming at you and let his stuff take over.”

Kershaw said he made a conscious effort to pound the strike zone.

Referring to third baseman Juan Uribe, Kershaw said, “I feel like Juan got 15 ground balls tonight.”