Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
It looked like it was going to be one of those nights for Clayton Kershaw. Then, it looked like it was going to be one of those nights for the Dodgers. Then, it was one of THOSE nights. The Dodgers, on the strength of a Justin Turner 2-run home run in the bottom of the eighth and a gem by Kershaw, defeated the Padres 2-1 on Thursday night.
Kershaw was lights-out, as he normally is against the Padres: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 10 K, 103 pitches, 69 strikes, 8/3 GO/AO. It was his fifth double-digit strikeout game of the season. Oh, and he had a no-hitter going through 5 2/3 innings until Ross (of all Padres) broke it up. Then, Kershaw ran into trouble in the seventh inning. he allowed a single, walk, committed a wild pitch and an RBI single to Rene Rivera. For the longest time, it looked like that’d be the only run of the game.
Tyson Ross was absolutely cruising through seven innings. He completely shut the Dodgers down, as they had just three hits through seven. Then a leadoff single to Carl Crawford and Turner’s homer happened. Despite that, Ross was great in his complete game effort: 8 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 97 pitches, 64 strikes. One hanging slider did him in.
Kenley Jansen closed out the game, but not without incident. He struck out Abraham Almonte and, for whatever reason, walked Jedd Gyorko. He got Seth Smith to fly out and Yasmani Grandal to strike out. It was a nice bounce-back outing after a laborious one in Atlanta a week ago and the one Tuesday night against San Diego.
This was the Dodgers’ first win this season when trailing after seven innings. They’re now 1-46 on the season.
The Dodgers (72-57) gained a half game on the Giants, as they split their two games with the Cubs tonight (completion of suspended game and regularly scheduled game). They welcome the Mets for a 3-game series on Friday night. Dan Haren (10-10, 4.59 ERA) takes on should-be-Dodger Jon Niese (7-8, 3.50). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Pacific time.
