Veteran Clayton Kershaw threw six shutout innings and Shohei Ohtani smashed his 39th homer of the year to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and secure the series win, two games to one.
With the victory, the Dodgers’ current divisional lead sits at three full games over the San Diego Padres and four full games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both the Padres and Diamondbacks lost on Sunday.
Kershaw was efficient on the afternoon, throwing just 70 pitches and surrendering four hits and a walk while striking out two batters. Skipper Dave Roberts opted for Evan Phillips to start the seventh and came back with Daniel Hudson in the eighth, who surrendered a solo homer to pinch-hitter Lars Nootbar to make the game interesting.
Righty Michael Kopech was perfect in the ninth , posting his second save as a Dodger and his 11th on the year. Since arriving in Los Angeles, Kopech has not allowed an earned run in just over nine innings of work.
The good news for the Dodgers is that Kershaw continues to prove himself worthy as a starting option should the Dodgers clinch a spot in the playoffs. This could play big in light of Tyler Glasnow’s recent bout with elbow tendinitis and the lengthy recovery of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Although Yamamoto faced live hitters this week, Roberts told reporters on Friday that his righty could conceivably participate in at least two more live sessions before going out on a rehab assignment.
After Ohtani’s one-out solo shot to right-center field in the fifth, Mookie Betts walked and later advanced to third on Gavin Lux’s single to right. Betts later scored on a Miguel Rojas single to wrap up the Los Angeles scoring.
Both Lux and Rojas had three hits for the Dodgers, with Lux adding two doubles and raising his season average above .250 for the first time since the early stages of the season.
The Dodgers won the game despite being without the services of Freddie Freeman. The first baseman jammed his right middle finger while trying to make a play in the field during the sixth inning of Saturday’s middle game. Freeman is scheduled to undergo a medical imaging procedure upon returning to Los Angeles.
Before Sunday’s game, Max Muncy was seen taking grounders at first base, indicating that he could be a potential fill-in for Freeman if needed. Both Muncy and the newly acquired Tommy Edman are expected to be activated ahead of the Seattle Mariners series beginning on Monday.
Lining up to start for the Dodgers are Gavin Stone, Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty, respectively.