Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
In what was billed as a clash of pitching titans in Clayton Kershaw and Stephen Strasburg set on the national stage of ESPN, the hyped matchup took a twist at the last minute when Strasburg had to be scratched from his start for Yusmeiro Petit. Luckily, Kershaw didn’t have to be scratched from his start, and the Dodgers prevailed over the Nationals by a score of 4-1.
I predict the Dodgers won't lose again for at least one week.
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) June 15, 2016
Hey, six of seven ain’t bad.
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Hello, everybody. Did you know that Clayton Kershaw is good? Yes, even on a brutal weather day for Dodger Stadium where temperatures reportedly reached 97 degrees, Kershaw threw 106 pitches and got through seven innings. Kershaw walked nobody again while striking out eight batters, and he gave up just six hits.
Bryce Harper, in particular, didn’t seem to like facing Kershaw much since he got the hat trick against him.
Kershaw wasn’t invincible though, as he was clearly tiring in the seventh inning thanks to the heat, and three of the six hits he surrendered came in his final frame which resulted in one run crossing the plate. Still, the outing dropped his ERA, and it now sits at 1.57.
After tonight’s start, he now has 141 strikeouts to just seven walks, for an absurd K/BB ratio of 20.1. Not sure if people get tired of hearing about it, but it’s repeated so often because it’s just comically ridiculous.
If you exclude the 8 starts (incl tonight) that Clayton Kershaw has 0 BB in 2016, his strikeout (59) to walk (7) ratio would still lead MLB
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) June 21, 2016
The Dodgers offense wasn’t great, but they managed to do enough to get Kershaw the victory tonight.
Justin Turner struck again in the first inning with a homer to give the team a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth, the Dodgers got out to a 2-0 lead after Corey Seager led off the frame with a double, and Turner (again) followed by driving him in with a single to right.
The team didn’t have to wait much longer for the third run, as Joc Pederson dingered on a moonshot to right in the fifth for a 3-0 cushion.
After Kershaw gave up his run in the seventh to trim the lead to 3-1, the Dodgers came right back in the bottom of the frame with an insurance run. With one down, Howie Kendrick lined a double to right, which eventually led to a two-out intentional walk to Enrique Hernandez. Chase Utley then came through in the clutch, lining a single off a lefty into center for a 4-1 lead.
As it turns out, though, the Dodgers wouldn’t need that cushion. Joe Blanton, who is now an actually deserving setup man, got a scoreless eighth inning for the team and lowered his ERA to 2.15 in the process.
That set things up for closer Kenley Jansen, who shut things down in the ninth for his 20th save and the franchise record in saves, surpassing Eric Gagne.
Congratulations, @kenleyjansen74. You're the All-Time saves leader in #Dodgers franchise history. 👍🏻⚾️ #162.
— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) June 21, 2016
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/745120124638625792
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/745120314615439360
Oh yeah, whatever adjustment he made after blowing that save against the Giants seemed to have worked.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/745119493597200384
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The Dodgers improve to 39-33 on the year with the win and have now won six of their last seven. They also improve to 21-15 at home, while they are just .500 on the road.
Tomorrow night, the Dodgers go for the series win against the Nationals at 4:10 PM HST/7:10 PM PST/10:10 PM EST. Scott Kazmir is looking to get it together as he’s yet to record an out in the sixth inning in June, and he’s matched up against Tanner Roark.
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Yasmani Grandal with the GOAT throw back to Kershaw.
