Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers have lost six of their last eight games, and one of those games was won by Clayton Kershaw. They turned to him again to get them back on the right path, and he delivered again despite a surprisingly eventful start.
But first, let’s start with the other side.
Ty Blach, who famously outdueled Clayton Kershaw last year, basically held the fort tonight again despite not being stretched out to start. The offense managed just four hits and a walk in five innings. Fortunately then, the walk and two of those hits came in order in the fourth inning, as Corey Seager drew a walk, and then back-to-back singles by Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig netted a run.
Puig’s single was lucky, but he deserved it after his recent run of fortune. The Dodgers then tried their best to not get anything more out of it, with Adrian Gonzalez grounding out to first, but plating a run after a failed 3-6-2 double play attempt.
There’s your two runs, Clayton.
Clayton Kershaw’s day started ominously, as he was hit on a comebacker by Hunter Pence to start the game, and I’m pretty sure Clayton did it on purpose.
Still, he recovered and threw two scoreless frames. However, a problem appeared to pop-up while he was batting in the third, as he came up limping after hitting a grounder.
Kershaw ran into trouble in the third, though he didn’t look hurt, just the rest of the team played like they were the ones stricken by some malady. Opposing starter Blach hit a double to deep left center, and the Dodgers were playing in so it would’ve been a tough play for anybody, but Enrique Hernandez was staring at Cody Bellinger half the time and cost himself range, which made me appreciate Joc Pederson‘s defense a bit more. That was followed by a Pence routine grounder to Chris Taylor, who thought he had way more time than he did and Gritty Alien Man beat out an infield single, which made me miss Logan Forsythe‘s defense.
Clayton is the best, so he proceeded to strike out the next two batters, but Buster Posey hit a slider off his shoes for a seeing-eyed single past Seager to drive in a run before Kershaw was able to wiggle out of it. On the night, Kershaw made it through seven innings on 90 pitches, scattering six hits and a walk, striking out seven batters. He basically would’ve never been in much trouble the whole game if it wasn’t for the Dodgers defensive boners.
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With Blach out of the game, the offense almost got to the Giants pen in the seventh. A-Gon actually drove a ball, finding the gap on a double, then Yasmani Grandal followed with a walk. After a pop out and a wild pitch, Bellinger was intentionally walked to load the bases. Kershaw then flew out to medium-deep left, but A-Gon was at first so nothing was going to happen there. Then Andrew Toles pinch hit for Enrique, and well … he’s had better at-bats.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/857086198031949824
Absolutely killer with Seager waiting on deck. Furthermore, since we know the Dodgers were only going to let Kershaw get three more outs, why let him hit in a situation where they could’ve blown the game open?
If you're going to let Kershaw bat with the bases loaded, it seems like you should try to get more than 3 outs from him after
— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) April 26, 2017
There’s no real logical counter to that, but “well the Dodgers would’ve screwed it up anyway” is valid enough.
Either way, Kershaw was done, and Pedro Baez entered. Baez got two outs in the middle of the Giants order before handing thing over to Kenley Jansen.
Is Pedro Baez good? @dylanohernandez's column:
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) April 26, 2017
Let it be known that when he gets shelled next time out, it’s the fault of somebody else but Brim this time.
Speaking of Jansen, he proceeded to immediately allow back-to-back singles to Posey and Brandon Crawford to put runners on the corners for Brandon Belt. Jansen wiggled out of trouble by striking him out, and then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to secure the win.
Never easy.
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Oh yeah, this Giants fan had a quality self-own here as he tried to insult Kershaw.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/857078951004459008
Speaking of Kershaw, it appears to be just a bruise and cramping on his calf.
Clayton Kershaw felt cramping and discomfort in his calf after getting hit in the first. Dave Roberts called Kershaw's effort "courageous."
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) April 26, 2017
Kershaw got his bruised calf iced and wrapped. He said it won't be an issue.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) April 26, 2017
Thank god.
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The Dodgers are now 10-11 on the season and 4-7 away from Dodger Stadium. Closer to .500!!!
Tomorrow’s going to be a bit of a tough matchup with spot starter Alex Wood (3.29 ERA/3.45 FIP/6.72 DRA) being sent up against Johnny Cueto (5.25 ERA/5.26 FIP/5.36 DRA), whose surprising struggles hopefully continue tomorrow. The game will be at 4:15 PM HST/7:15 PM PST/10:15 PM EST.
