ANAHEIM, Calif. – Matt Kemp was hitless in three at-bats with two strikeouts before leaving with a mild right hamstring strain, the latest frustration for the struggling All-Star slugger.
He took himself out in the seventh inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-3 loss to the Angels on Wednesday night in the Freeway Series. He hurt himself on Mike Trout's double in the center field gap.
Last season, Kemp missed a stretch of games when he injured his left hamstring. Mindful of that, he pulled himself, something he said he probably wouldn't have done two years ago. He told right fielder Andre Ethier he thought he hurt himself.
"He walked over to me and told me, 'Man, you've got to come out. Be safe,'" Kemp said. "That kind of reminded me. Last year I thought I'd only miss a couple of days, and I missed like a month."
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was glad Kemp didn't try to keep playing and risk further injury.
"I'm hoping it's just a few days and it doesn't derail him. I really don't want him to get any more frustrated than he is," he said. "It would be nice if this wasn't something major and we were able to get him back quickly."
Kemp said he would have an MRI on Thursday.
Jered Weaver pitched six strong innings in his first start in nearly eight weeks and Mark Trumbo hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth for the Angels, who tied a season high with their fifth straight victory at home while snapping a two-game skid.
Weaver (1-1) allowed one run and five hits, struck out seven and walked none in his first home start of the season and 100th of his career at Angel Stadium.
The right-hander came off the disabled list, where he'd been since April 9 with a broken left elbow that occurred when he was trying to get out of the way of a line drive at Texas.
"He's a guy that changes speeds, comes at you from an angle and crossfires on you," Mattingly said.
Weaver was perfect through four innings before Ethier doubled to deep center field leading off the fifth for the Dodgers' first hit.
After Kemp and Scott Van Slyke struck out, Skip Schumaker singled with two outs — the first of three in a row off Weaver that loaded the bases — and Ethier scored to tie the game 1-1. Carl Crawford grounded out to first to end the inning.
"It started to look like we kind of got to him a little bit there, and then he gets that big out with the bases loaded," Mattingly said.
Ernesto Frieri pitched the ninth to earn his 11th save in 12 chances. He gave up a leadoff homer to Adrian Gonzalez on a 3-2 pitch and a two-out homer to Van Slyke that cut the Angels' lead to 4-3.
Chris Capuano (1-4) gave up three runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings, struck out two and walked four.
"I definitely was leaving it all out there," he said. "It's frustrating when we battle back to score that one and then let them get the lead right back."
Trumbo's team-leading 12th homer scored Albert Pujols, who walked with two outs. Trumbo drove in his third run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, extending the Angels' lead to 4-1.
They led 1-0 on Erick Aybar's RBI double with two outs in the second.
Angels slugger Josh Hamilton went 0 for 3 with a walk after being scratched Tuesday because of back spasms.
The Dodgers won the first two games of the Freeway Series in Los Angeles. The finale is Thursday in Anaheim.
NOTES: The Dodgers dropped to 18-52 in AL stadiums since 2005, the second-worst interleague road record in the majors during that span. ... The Dodgers fell to 0-18 when trailing after six innings. ... RHP Hyun-Jin Ryu's two-hit shutout on Tuesday was the first by a Dodgers rookie since Hiroki Kuroda's one-hitter on July 7, 2008, against Atlanta. ... Dodgers INF-OF Jerry Hairston Jr. turned 37 on Wednesday.
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