Any worry about Clayton Kershaw losing his pinpoint accuracy was put to rest on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. Eight innings of shutout ball with no walks and 12 strikeouts sort of backs that statement up.
With an assist from two solo homers by Carl Crawford, Kershaw and the Dodgers won the rubber match over the Brewers, 2-0. It's the second consecutive series victory for the Dodgers after taking two of three from the Mets during the week. It's also five wins in the last seven games.
Kershaw was obviously awesome, but the Brew Crew did have their chances to score the first couple of innings. In the first, Jean Segura and Ryan Braun each singled with one out. Jonathan Lucroy's double play ball erased that threat. The next inning, Rickie Weeks doubled leading off, went to third on a flyout, but stayed right there.
That would be it for the Brewers' scoring chances, as they simply could not get anything going the rest of the game. Well, Carlos Gomez did double leading off the eighth and get to third with two outs, but Khris (yes, with a K) Davis struck out.
Wedged in between the two doubles was Kershaw setting down 18 in a row, including nine strikeouts. Wow, that's unreal. Actually it's not, it's just Kershaw doing his thing.
The offense was supplied by Crawford and Crawford only. He took the first pitch of the game by Kyle Lohse out to dead center for the quick 1-0 lead. In the fifth, he pulled one out to right for another solo homer, this time with two outs. Yup, I'd say he's healthy again. A .307 average and .390 OBP is the proof.
We all know how lousy the bullpen has been (read my last post), but Brandon League made sure there was no letdown as he gathered his eighth save in nine chances. He induced two groundouts to Justin Sellers at short, along with a popup that Nick Punto ran down near the right field line. Great catch.
When you've built up the kind of resume that Kershaw sports, it's certainly a daunting task to constantly live up to it, and even exceed it. So it was strange seeing him pitch around five innings his last two starts. Even more concerning was his control issues, as he walked 11 over his last three starts, going 0-2 in that span.
That wasn't the case on Sunday, as nobody got a free pass. Over the course of eight innings, he did manage to work seven counts of at least three balls. Remarkably, not a single one of them ever got to ball four. The Brewers did help him out a couple times by expanding the zone on strikeouts, but that's it. He simply bared down and made the big pitch over and over. That's why he's the best in the business.
Because of all those full counts, Kershaw ran his pitch count up to 117, which denied him the chance of going the distance. Don Mattingly clearly made the right call here. I can only imagine the outcry there would be had League blown it, but I can honestly say that Mattingly was still doing the right thing even if it backfired. Unlike yanking Matt Magill the night before, this was the right call, and it worked out quite nicely.
Ted Lilly takes the mound on Monday, as the Dodgers welcome the first place Rockies to town for three. Kershaw won't go, but he will get the call against the Giants on Friday, so it's all good. I don't care who's in first, it's still better watching Kershaw beat the Giants. That never gets old.
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