Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw doesn’t get chance to complete gem

Reporting from San Francisco — Clayton Kershaw had outlasted Tim Lincecum and was on the verge of pitching a shutout against the defending World Series champions in their home park. The Dodgers’ closer was in double A only two months ago.

Still, Manager Don Mattingly said he couldn’t send Kershaw back to the mound for the ninth inning.

Not with the Dodgers in last place.

“I considered it, but it just didn’t seem like the right thing,” Mattingly said. “He was at 112 [pitches]. And, I think, just our situation. This is our best pitcher. Where we’re at in the race in this point, I don’t think we can take a chance extending him to 125, 130 range.”

So, Mattingly called on rookie Javy Guerra to preserve Kershaw’s eight-inning masterpiece in the Dodgers’ 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday at AT&T Park.

Kershaw struck out a season-high 12 batters and walked one. The victory was his second this season over Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young Award winner whom he conquered on opening day.

Mattingly’s tacit acknowledgement of the death of his team’s postseason ambitions came a day after General Manager Ned Colletti said the Dodgers would be mindful of the future leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Colletti said that if the Dodgers acquire a player, it would likely be someone who would be under contract for beyond this season.

Such thinking didn’t temper Kershaw’s desire to complete what he started Wednesday. Mattingly said Kershaw asked to not be removed.

Kershaw struck out the side in the eighth inning and didn’t appear tired.

“I’m not even going to talk about that,” he said.

Asked whether he would have taken Kershaw out of the game, catcher Dioner Navarro laughed and said, “No comment.”

Told that pitching a shutout against Lincecum and the Giants at AT&T Park could have marked the next step in Kershaw’s development, Mattingly replied, “He doesn’t need any more steps. He just needs to stay on the top, where he’s at. He’s pretty much on it.”

Big splash, unlikely source

Navarro’s seventh-inning home run against Lincecum not only decided the outcome of the game it also earned the light-hitting catcher a special distinction.

Navarro, who is hitting .200, became the first visiting player to clear the 24-foot high brick wall in right field at AT&T Park and into the cove behind it on the fly.

“I’ve been trying to reach the water since day one,” Navarro said.

He said his efforts to do so in batting practice over the last three days failed.

The home run was Navarro’s third this season.

Navarro is only the second Dodger to hit a fair ball directly into the body of water known as McCovey Cove. The first was Todd Hundley, who did it June 30, 2000.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com