The Los Angeles Dodgers activated left-hander Clayton Kershaw from the injured list to start Saturday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants, and within a few hours announced that right-hander Walker Buehler was being placed on the injured list with a right forearm strain.

Kershaw had been sidelined due to inflammation in the right sacroiliac joint in his lower back. He last pitched for the Dodgers on May 7. The 34-year-old Kershaw is 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in five starts this season. He has struck out 32 and walked just three.

Buehler, meantime, has been increasingly ineffective in his past three starts – allowing five home runs as the Dodgers lost all three games. In his most recent appearance, Friday night, he lasted only four innings in a 7-2 defeat to the Giants, and he couldn’t get out of the third inning in his previous start against the New York Mets.

In 12 starts for the Dodgers this season, Buehler is 6-3 with a 4.02 ERA. The two-time All-Star is 46-16 in six seasons with Los Angeles (3.02 ERA).

In corresponding moves, the Dodgers optioned left-hander Justin Bruihl to Triple-A Oklahoma City and called up right-hander Michael Grove.

Bruihl, 24, was 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 17 games with the Dodgers.

Grove, 26, is up for his third stint, 0-0 with a 5.79 ERA in two previous appearances (one start) with the Dodgers.

Kershaw, the three-time National League Cy Young Award winner and eight-time All-Star, became the Dodgers’ all-time leader in strikeouts earlier this season. His total currently sits at 2,702. He won NL MVP honors in 2014, and has a 189-84 record and 2.48 ERA in 384 career appearances (381 starts).

Against the Giants, Kershaw has a record of 24-14 with a 1.88 ERA in 52 games (50 starts).

–Field Level Media