Pinch-hitter Jamey Carroll’s infield grounder scored Eugenio Velez in the ninth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the host San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Friday.

The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw lived up to expectations as Kershaw (18-5) allowed one unearned run and struck out nine over eight innings to improve to 5-0 in his last six starts against the Giants.

After allowing 10 runs in his last two starts, Lincecum returned to form. He tossed eight innings, gave up one run and struck out six.

The Giants have lost seven of their last 11 games and fell 8 1/2 games behind Arizona in the National League West with 18 to go.

Javy Guerra worked a scoreless ninth for his 17th save.

Santiago Casilla (2-2) took over for Lincecum in the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Rod Barajas. Velez entered as a pinch-runner and scored on Carroll’s ground ball to second base.

Juan Rivera evened the score at one with an eighth-inning RBI single for the Dodgers, who have won 14 of their last 17 games.