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Dodgers’ Zack Greinke gets roughed up in loss to Kansas City, 5-3

Adrian Gonzalez was two for four at the plate with a solo home run in the ninth inning of the Dodgers' 5-3 loss Monday to the Royals in Kansas City.
(Colin E. Braley / Associated Press)
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KEY MOMENT: Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie had faced the minimum 12 batters through four innings when Adrian Gonzalez and Matt Kemp each singled to start the fifth inning. But Andre Ethier struck out, and A.J. Ellis and Miguel Rojas grounded out. The Dodgers did not score until the eighth inning, but the Royals led, 5-0, by then.

AT THE PLATE: Gonzalez beat the shift twice, pulling a line single over the shift and then hitting his first home run in 110 at-bats, dating to May 21. Hanley Ramirez doubled home two runs. Ramirez has four doubles in his last 10 games and is on pace for 47, one shy of his career high. Kemp extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

ON THE MOUND: Zack Greinke (9-4) gave up a season-high five runs — and 11 hits — in 5 2/3 innings. In his last four starts, he has given up 32 hits in 24 2/3 innings. He also has given up 11 home runs in 97 innings this season; he gave up 13 in 178 innings last season. Reliever Jamey Wright, 39, hit 2,000 innings, all the more impressive for a guy who has started once in the last seven seasons.

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VANDER MEER REDUX: On Wednesday, Clayton Kershaw tries to join Johnny Vander Meer as the only major league pitchers to throw consecutive no-hitters. Vander Meer threw his for the Cincinnati Reds in 1938, the second in the first night game played at Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. No one on the Kansas City roster has more than nine at-bats against Kershaw.

VIVA MEXICO: Gonzalez wore a Team Mexico jersey, with his name and uniform number on the back, as he sat intently in the middle of the Dodgers clubhouse watching Mexico play Croatia in the World Cup. When Mexico scored the game’s first goal, Gonzalez grabbed a Mexican flag and ran around the clubhouse as if he had scored.

SHORT HOPS: Yasiel Puig continues to lead all National League outfielders in All-Star voting, with Gonzalez an increasingly distant second to Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks at first base. … Third baseman Juan Uribe is scheduled to play for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Tuesday, in what might be the final game of his minor league rehabilitation assignment. Uribe, who has not played since May 20 because of a hamstring strain, could be activated Thursday. … Outfielder Carl Crawford has not played since May 27 because of an ankle sprain, appears weeks away from returning.

UP NEXT: Kershaw (7-2, 2.52 ERA) faces the Royals’ Danny Duffy (4-6, 2.80) on Tuesday at 5:10 p.m. PDT at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. TV: SportsNet LA. Radio: 570, 1020.

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