Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers beat the Cubs, 4-1, behind Clayton Kershaw and a three-run sixth inning to extend their winning streak to four games.
Kershaw went eight innings in 108 pitches, but he actually gave up a single run on an Anthony Rizzo homer in the fourth. Despite that massive struggle, Kershaw managed to strike out 14 and only surrendered three hits and a walk. Kershaw’s ERA is now 2.24, so now we can all sit back and remember when everybody was freaking out about him. Amazingly, he still hasn’t come down to his MLB-best 2.10 FIP or 2.09 xFIP.
The Dodgers initially got a spark of offense from Chase Utley, who drove in Jimmy Rollins in the third with a triple to get the scoring started.
But Jason Hammel matched Kershaw run for run and was cruising until the sixth inning. Utley led-off that inning with a walk and Adrian Gonzalez singled to put two on. A gamble by Utley on a ball in the dirt led to a throwing error from Miguel Montero, and Utley scampered home to take the lead 2-1.
Montero then immediately failed to block another pitch in the dirt on the very next pitch, which moved A-Gon to third, and after Turner walked, A-Gon scored on a Scott Van Slyke double play (that should’ve been a single if not for the Cubs great defense). At that point the rally figured to be over, but a Carl Crawford single and a Yasmani Grandal walk started a rally again, and Enrique Hernandez singled up the middle to get an insurance run and put the Dodgers up 4-1.
Kenley Jansen entered to get the ninth and got the side on nine pitches, including a strikeout.
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Most importantly, though:
