With the week-long buildup finally over, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals began their National League Division Series matchup in front of a raucous crowd in the nation’s capital. The expected pitchers’ duel included early bumps along the way for Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.
After Chase Utley struck out swinging to open the game, Corey Seager jumped on the first pitch he saw and hit a home run. With the solo shot, Seager became the youngest player in Dodgers franchise history to hit a homer in the postseason.
The Dodgers endured a scare when Justin Turner was hit by a pitch on his left hand. He was checked on by head athletic trainer Nate Lucero but remained in the game. Scherzer ended the inning by inducing Adrian Gonzalez into an inning-ending double play.
Clayton Kershaw struck out the side in the bottom of the first, doing so on his slider, fastball and curveball.
Daniel Murphy led off the second inning with a base hit into center field, but was erased on batter later on a force out. Ryan Zimmerman singled to left to put two on with one out. Then with two down, Utley booted a routine grounder that left the bases loaded.
It amounted to extra pitches for Kershaw as Scherzer worked a full count prior to hitting a shallow fly ball to left. Andrew Toles lined a single into center field in his first career postseason at-bat.
With Toles at second base and one out, Utley atoned for his error in some regard by extending the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0 with a single to right field. Turner added a two-run homer before Scherzer could get out of the inning.
Bryce Harper ended his string of struggles against Kershaw by pulling a one-out double down the right-field line. Jayson Werth drew a walk, and the Nationals pulled off a double steal with two outs. Anthony Rendon cashed it in by connecting for a two-run single.
Kershaw, who didn’t look sharp, ran into more trouble in the fourth. Pedro Severino hit a leadoff double, then advanced to third on Scherzer’s grounder to the right side. Trea Turner’s sacrifice fly cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-3.
Despite having thrown 83 pitches through four innings, Kershaw hit for himself in the fifth, and struck out. Utley struck out to end the inning, giving Scherzer seven consecutive batters retired to that point.
Kershaw worked around a pair of singles in the bottom half of the fifth, ending the inning by striking out Danny Espinosa for the third time on the night. Justin Turner ended Scherzer’s streak of batters retired at eight with a line-drive single in the sixth inning.
He eventually reached third base, but was stranded by Josh Reddick. Joe Blanton retired the first two batters faced in the bottom of the sixth before walking Trea Turner. Grant Dayton and Yasiel Puig then entered the game in a double switch, replacing Blanton and Reddick.
The rookie reliever retired Harper to keep the Dodgers’ slim lead intact. Sammy Solis gave up a one-out single to Yasmani Grandal in the seventh. He moved into scoring position on pinch-hitter Howie Kendrick’s groundout, which prompted the Nationals to intentionally walk Puig.
That paid off as Utley grounded out to end the inning. Dayton struck out Werth to start the bottom of the seventh but then walked Murphy, who was the final batter he faced. Pedro Baez and Charlie Culberson entered in a double switch, with Dayton and Utley exiting.
Murphy was caught stealing and Rendon popped-out to end the seventh inning with the Dodgers still leading, 4-3. Baez retired Zimmerman to start the bottom of the eighth, then gave way to Kenley Jansen.
Clint Robinson slapped a pinch-hit, two-out double that stayed just fair down the third-base line. He was pinch-run for by Michael Taylor. Jansen got pinch-hitter Chris Heisey to swing at ball four on a 3-1 count, and struck him out looking on a low fastball the next pitch.
Grandal and Kendrick singled off Mark Melancon with two outs in the ninth. Grandal was fortunate Turner’s throw to third base was not on line, otherwise he would have easily been cut down. Kendrick advanced to second on the throw, which led to Puig being intentionally walked.
Jansen hit for himself, took his share of big swings, and struck out to end the inning. He returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth and retired Turner, Harper and Werth to get the Dodgers’ a 4-3 victory in Game 1.
The five-out save was Jansen’s first since April 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
