Bryce Harper on Clayton Kershaw: "Sometimes you gotta tip your cap and laugh"

After completing the first game of the series with a late-inning win in dramatic fashion, the Nationals ran into a buzzsaw in the second as the Dodgers won 4-2. Reigning National League MVP Clayton Kershaw struck out a season-best 14 batters without a allowing a run or a walk. The Nationals managed only three hits against the dominant left-hander.

"Unfortunately, I've seen that way too much," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "He's a pretty good pitcher. He establishes strikes and then goes down out of the zone. I don't know how many curveballs he threw today, probably 15 of them. He may have thrown one for a ball. That's why he's good. The good ones don't give you much."

Bryce Harper was victimized by Kershaw three times, as the slugger was left either frozen by filthy curveballs or flailing at them. Harper is now 1-for-9 with a homer and six strikeouts in his career facing Kershaw.

"He put on a clinic today," Harper said. "He really went out there and pitched like the MVP he is. He was pretty devastating. We tried to go in there and do what we could, but he's the best pitcher in baseball, so he's pretty tough."

Kershaw's 14 strikeouts tied for the most by any pitcher in the history of Nationals Park, matching the 14-strikeout performance from Stephen Strasburg in his major league debut. It's the eighth double-digit strikeout game for Kershaw this year, which sets a new career-high for a single season. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner leads the majors with 174 strikeouts.

"Sometimes you gotta tip your cap and laugh because that was pretty impressive by him today," Harper said.

The Nationals received a break when Dodgers manager Don Mattingly ended Kershaw's night after the eighth. Emmanuel Burriss, who entered the game in the ninth for the injured Danny Espinosa, knocked a one-out single up the middle. One batter later, Harper crushed a Kenley Jansen fastball into the second deck in right for his 27th homer, tying the Angels' Mike Trout and the Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton for the major league lead. But Jansen settled down and struck out Yunel Escobar and Clint Robinson to end the game.

Espinosa was injured in the ninth diving for a ball in the second base hole, which went for a hit for Adrian Gonzalez. Espinosa limped off the field shortly after.

"I think he'll be fine," Williams said. "He had cramps in both calves. So as he was going for the ball, they both cramped up on him. You could tell by the dive - it wasn't real pleasant to watch - because he just kinda fell over. But I anticipate he'll be OK. We'll see how he is tomorrow."

Tomorrow's rubber match will feature Nationals ace Max Scherzer squaring off against Zack Greinke, the NL's All-Star starter and majors' ERA leader (1.39).