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Clayton Kershaw doesn’t win, but growth continues

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Clayton Kershaw’s maturation has been rapid, his sense of purpose growing at the same rate as his ability to put people away with a more confident and strategically mixed slider.

He took another step forward Tuesday in a game that might have been a truly significant milestone for him if the Dodgers’ bullpen hadn’t collapsed in the ninth inning and allowed the San Francisco Giants to rally for three runs and a 7-5 victory.

Kershaw held his own in a game that grew increasingly nasty, outperforming Giants starter Tim Lincecum even though neither got a decision.

Kershaw was ejected in the seventh inning after hitting leadoff batter Aaron Rowand — his second hit batter of the game — and was followed to the clubhouse by Manager Joe Torre. Both benches had been warned after Lincecum had thrown at — and hit — Matt Kemp, and Dodgers bench coach Bob Schaefer was tossed for complaining about Denny Bautista’s brushback of Russell Martin leading off the sixth.

If the Dodgers-Giants rivalry had grown tame in recent years, the malice returned in force Tuesday. And in the middle of it all, 22-year-old Kershaw stood with cool assurance, giving up four hits and two earned runs in six-plus innings while getting no favors when left fielder Xavier Paul dropped a fly ball on the warning track in the Giants’ three-run flurry in the sixth.

“He got a little wound up in the sixth inning and tried to overthrow, but I think circumstances caused that,” Torre said. “After the first inning he settled in and did a hell of a job.”

Kershaw got a standing ovation after he was tossed, a tribute to his gutsy performance. A lively crowd of 53,381 had packed Dodger Stadium to watch Lincecum, winner of the last two National League Cy Young Awards, and Kershaw, one of the brightest spots in a Dodgers season overshadowed by Frank and Jamie McCourt’s family feud and a dire need for pitching help.

Kershaw and Lincecum had never started against each other but they had been linked. Both were drafted in 2006, Kershaw seventh by the Dodgers and Lincecum 10th by the Giants. Lincecum was more than three years older and had three years of experience at the University of Washington behind him.

The bullpen’s implosion prevented Kershaw from beating Lincecum and adding a second notch to his belt this season: Kershaw remains the only pitcher to have prevailed over Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez, hanging the “1” on Jimenez’s 15-1 record with a two-hit effort May 9. If the bullpen had held up, Kershaw could have recorded a victory over an off-kilter Lincecum, whose second pitch to Casey Blake in the second inning sailed to the backstop and accelerated the craziness.

“I hope I’m around long enough to pitch against him. He’s a great pitcher,” Kershaw said. “He’s already proven himself. He’s got two Cy Youngs. So rivalry or not, I hope I get to pitch against him for a long time.”

Kershaw’s outing was also important as a measure of his resilience. In his previous start, he lasted only 41/3 innings at St. Louis and gave up eight hits and four earned runs. On Tuesday, he gave up only one hit through the first 51/3 innings, retiring 11 batters in a row in the middle innings.

Before the game, Torre said Kershaw this season has been developing “baseball maturity,” a willingness to adapt and learn.

“I think he had a great deal of confidence. I think the difference between then and now is the understanding that he was open to listening to get better,” Torre said. “Because a lot of times with young players they’re just, ‘Here I am and this is my stuff and it’s carried me this far,’ even though it wasn’t very far.”

He has more in his repertoire and is learning how and when to use those pitches.

“He’s added a changeup. He’s added a slider. So before where he couldn’t blow people away or if he got behind and would throw his fastball, at this level you can’t get away with doing that regularly,” Torre said. “And so he understood that, and that’s to me the impressive part, a young kid understanding that.”

He will also have to understand that there will be nights like Tuesday, when the reward lies not in the victory but in the performance.

1/3 innings at St. Louis and gave up eight hits and four earned runs. On Tuesday, he gave up only one hit through the first 51/3 innings, retiring 11 consecutive batters in the middle innings.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

twitter.com/helenenothelen

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