Things weren’t looking too good for 37-year-old Dodgers future first-ballot Hall of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw when 32-year-old Dodgers right-fielder Teoscar Hernández struck out on a 87.4-mph slider from 41-year-old Toronto Blue Jays fellow first-ballot future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer that was nearly two feet off the plate for the third out of the bottom of the first inning with the bases loaded.
(SportsNet LA)
Thankfully, 32-year-old Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts crushed Scherzer’s first pitch to him, a 85.6-mph slider, with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, sending it 389 feet into the Left Field Pavilion of Dodger Stadium with international superstar Shohei Ohtani on second base (having doubled to right-center field) to give Kershaw and the Dodgers a then 2-1 lead in their eventual 5-1 win over the AL East first-place Blue Jays.
(SportsNet LA)
“I think we may be working with a little something now, we’ll see, I gotta keep on going. I’m just happy I finally get to have a conversation with you. I feel like it’s been… it has been a long time,” Betts kidded with SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “I’m just happy the boys won,” he added.
As Dodgers fan painful know, Betts has been struggling at the plate of late, having gone 2-for-19 (.105) in his previous five games, including going 0-for-7 against these same Blue Jays in Toronto this past week.
Toronto’s lone run came on a second-inning one-out single by Blue Jays third baseman Addison Barger after Jays shortstop Bo Bichette led off the frame with a loop double to right. Fortunately, Kershaw – and the Dodgers bullpen (for a change) – did not allow any additional runs, with the Dodgers ace finishing his 14th start of the season having allowed just that one run on seven hits, with one walk and four strikeouts over his 6.0 innings of work.
(SportsNet LA)
“I mean, obviously, pitching against Scherzer, you know you’re going to have a battle on your hands,” the always-humble Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in Dallas told Watson postgame. “He threw the ball really well tonight, the ball’s coming out really well. All the guys were saying his fastball still has alot of jump to it. So, you know, it’s not lost on me. I think it’s really cool that, you know, Scherzer’s the guy right before me to get to 3,000 (career strikeouts). I mean, I got to play with him, got to compete against him basically our whole careers.
“So, I think… I think it is really cool that we got to do this in our first year and… I don’t know if it’s our last year, but towards the end, for sure. So, it’s been a fun ride to get to watch him and (Justin) Verlander, and to get to compete against him, that was alot of fun and he’s still doing it. I think he’s way older than me, I think he’s like 41, so he’s way older,” Kershaw added jokingly.
(SportsNet LA)
This says it all:
It just doesn’t get any better than this.
Play Ball!
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