The Dodgers had dropped six games in a row, lost back to back series’, and were in danger of dropping out of first place in the .500 Division, the NL West. If anybody could stop the skid and right the ship, the best pitcher on planet Earth could do it – and he did.
1st inning
Clayton Kershaw stepped to the Dodger Stadium mound and made quite an opening statement! Three strike outs – each more dominant than the last.
Dodgers
Manager Dave Roberts, also trying to pull strings and engineer a win, took Yasiel Puig, who was caught up in a spinning whirlpool of first-pitch outs, and handed him the lead off reigns. Puig, being Puig, immediately popped up the first pitch he saw.
The next two Dodgers went, as Vinny said it, “Very quietly…as usual these days.”
2nd inning
Kershaw vs Padres: 6 down in a row.
Dodgers
A.J. Ellis came up with one out, and stroked a Dodgers double to CF!
Kershaw, as he so often must do, aided his cause with an RBI single. 1-0.
3rd inning Dodgers 1-0
Kershaw vs Padres: 9 down in a row on 41 pitches.
4th inning Dodgers 1-0
Kershaw vs Padres: 12 down in a row. Kershaw was looking deadly serious.
5th inning Dodgers 1-0
Padres
With two out, Al Ramirez hit a single into the right field corner. Because he’s fast, he tried to leg it into a double.
And then Puig happened!
Because Puig is Puig, he came up firing, and gunned Ramirez down.
Talk about Kershaw and a no-hitter was dead, but the runner was out.
7th inning Dodgers 1-0
After 7, the Kershaw report: No runs, 3 hits, 10 Ks, 81 pitches
8th inning Dodgers 1-0
Kershaw vs Padres
After a small threat with two base runners in the previous inning, Clayton very efficiently put away the Padres. Pitch count: 90
Dodgers
A.J. walked, and up came Kershaw. It was his show today.
Kershaw struck out, bringing up Puig. Yasiel grounded into a force out, ending his lead off stint at 0 for 4, but he played a very important role in the game with his excellent throw to stop a Padres double, shutting down the threat, and saving the game.
9th inning Dodgers 1-0
Kershaw vs Padres: Three up, three down. 101 pitches
In one of our LADR comments/discussions, someone earlier said, “Kershaw thinks he can strike everybody out.” Yeah, that’s because he can.
Clayton Kershaw (3-1) went 9 innings, with 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 14 K’s. ERA 1.96
Double: A.J. Ellis
Team with RISP: 1 for 3
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Wow!!!
If Kershaw didn’t pitch that game they would have lost. They would have scored no runs and given up runs instead. Other than Puig’s throw and Ellis’ double, the game was all Kershaw. Not much solace there.
Kershaw is a stud.
Hitters are a dud!
I’m ready for this stupid Stuff to be over!
Just another day at the office for kid k 🙂
Now the fun begins: everyone else in the rotation takes their turn.
Maybe this is the beginning of a win streak and we can move away from stupid stuff.
I was thinking the same thing Rick was. Very unlikely a three hit shutout is pitched by any other combinations of Dodgers pitchers. The ace stopped the losing streak with a magnificently pitched game. It’s a one game win streak and I will take it.
Where’d e’erybody go?
We won. We are in first place. If the playoffs started today we wouldn’t go because we hold no advantages. We are on pace to be a .500 club and are middle of the pack in every measurable statistics. We have a lot of stupid stuff we can talk about. I’ll lead the way on that of course.
“Perspective- win tomorrow!” AGon
It should be noted that before the 42-8 streak a few years ago the team had a losing streak. I don’t expect 42-8 out of this bunch, but 32-8 would be good.
Great game, great review. Thanks.
A win like this should fire up both team and fans.