LOS ANGELES — After nearly two decades, Clayton Kershaw still knows his way around the San Francisco Giants.

Kershaw befuddled the Dodgers’ biggest rival yet again, firing seven scoreless innings in an 11-5 victory on Saturday night that evened the first series of the season between the longtime foes. Shohei Ohtani showed his appreciation by hitting a pair of home runs.

The outing was Kershaw’s 61st career appearance and 59th start against San Francisco. And while it might not have matched the pure dominance of his first career start against the Giants, when he struck out 13 in a 2009 outing, it was the future Hall of Famer’s chance to show just how much orange and black gets his undivided attention.

“Maybe it’s my personality, I don’t know, but you never feel great about it,” Kershaw said when asked if he is back to where he wants to be on the mound. “I think there’s always things you want to have back. But the results, ultimately, at the end of the day, to win the game, that’s the most important thing.

“In the moment, I can think of some pitches off the top of my head that I’d like to have back, that I’d like to throw better. But there’s no restrictions physically, health-wise, which is great. It’s just kind of pitching now, which is good.”

Kershaw gave up three hits with one walk, and his five strikeouts moved him 12 away from becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB history with 3,000. Only three left-handers are on that list.

“Maybe by September I’ll get there, we’ll see,” Kershaw joked. “It’s obviously a very cool thing and it’s starting to get a little more on the forefront of the mind, but who knows how long 12 could take me at this point? It might be until August, so we’ll see.”

There are plenty of teams Kershaw has dominated in his career, but he has not faced any of them more than he has faced the Giants. He now has a career 2.00 ERA against San Francisco in 404⅓ innings.

And it came with the teams tied for first place in the National League West, in a collision at the top of the standings that occurred when the Giants won the series opener on Friday.

“I thought the curveball was the best it’s been since he’s been back, and he was efficient,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “I mean, he worked ahead all night long and put the pressure on those guys and found a way to get through seven really efficiently and put us in a good spot tonight.”

Ohtani was the first to show that Saturday’s game was about to take a different tone than the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss on Friday. His first home run of the night came on the fourth pitch of the game from Giants right-hander Landen Roupp.

Ohtani’s first home run since June 2 ended a 10-game long-ball drought, his longest in two years while wearing a Dodgers uniform. It was his first at home since a two-homer night on May 30 against the New York Yankees.

“It did feel like I haven’t hit a homer in a while,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “In terms of the context of the two homers, I felt that the first was more significant, just being able to score early in the game.”

The offense took flight in the second inning with five runs on four walks and three hits. Andy Pages had an RBI single, Michael Conforto had an RBI double, Mookie Betts had a two-run double and Will Smith had a sacrifice fly for a 6-1 lead.

By the time Hyeseong Kim dunked an RBI single to center in the third inning in front of close friend Jung Hoo Lee, the Dodgers were well in control with a 7-0 lead.

“Our offense is so good, it’s really important to get some zeroes on the board early, and you can see what they do,” Kershaw said. “I think if they feel the momentum, they start swinging the bats. So from there, when you get that early lead, you just try and pound the zone as best you can.”

They reached double digits in runs in the sixth inning when Ohtani hit his second home run of the game and 26th of the season, and Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run shot, his 13th.

Kershaw departed to a standing ovation from many in the crowd of 51,548 after retiring the Giants in the seventh inning. It was his first seven-inning scoreless outing since June 20, 2023, against the Angels.

Utility man Kiké Hernandez pitched the ninth inning for the Dodgers in the runaway game, collecting his first career strikeout when he got Christian Koss. But he gave up a grand slam to Casey Schmitt after loading the bases on three walks. It was Schmitt’s second grand slam in two games.

Left-hander Anthony Banda recorded the last out after Kiké Hernandez gave up five runs (four earned) in two-thirds of an inning in his ninth career appearance on the mound and fourth this season.

“In a game like that, every arm, every inning – certainly, in this series – is to help us win tomorrow,” Roberts said. “We got the Padres for four coming up, so all that stuff matters. And we tried to squeeze an inning, but we had to get Banda in the game.”