After losing four straight and six of their last 10, 37-year-old Dodgers ace and future first-ballot Hall of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw got his team back in the win column (again) in Friday’s 3-2 win over the (then) National League West first-place San Diego Padres, limiting their recently-red-hot division rivals to just one run on two hits while walking one and striking out three in his stellar 6.0 innings of work in front of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd of 53,119.
(MLB.com)
“Yeah, it was a good night. I think my slider was better tonight. I was able to throw it for strikes a little bit more,” Kershaw said postgame. “Still falling behind too many hitters overall, but I think with my slider, it had a little bit more bite than it has the last few games and able to get get some foul balls. They hit some balls hard on the ground, so, you know, (Dodgers third baseman Alex) Freeland made some great plays, (Dodgers first-baseman) Freddie (Freeman) made some picks, so I had the defense pick me up there, too, which is always huge.
“Yeah, they’re a team that doesn’t strike out a lot, you know. They work the count, they have good at-bats, so, you just kinda… you can’t really let off the gas, you just gotta keep going one through nine. They have a good lineup, especially at post-trade deadline, so, you just gotta make pitches,” Kershaw added, following his 15th start of the season en route to his seventh win opposite two losses.
Jose Iglesias on a 90-mph four-seam fastball for the second out of the top of
the fifth inning. (SportsNet LA)
“We had the right guy on the mound tonight, I think we all know that, and what he did for us tonight, you know, not only just the compete, but the stuff,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame of his staff ace and future Hall of Famer. “I just thought he mixed really well, missed bats, got soft contact, efficient as he always is, and getting us six innings was huge to set us up for the rest of the series, and, you know, Clayton set the tone throwing up a zero in the first, and a big, big outing by him,” added the Dodgers skipper.
(SportsNet LA)
The right guy on the mound indeed.
To be fair, Friday’s game was very much a team effort, getting what would prove to be their game-winning run on a 400-foot solo home run to right-center field by Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.
(SportsNet LA)
Add to that, the much-needed (and much-appreciated) help Kershaw received from the Dodgers recently-struggling bullpen:
But it was definitely the Dallas, TX native and the Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in Dallas who put Roberts’ team on their winning course to return them to a first-place tie with the Friars in the NL West.
Thanks, Kersh – we needed that! – again!
Play ball!
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