After losing the opener of a four-game series with the Miami Marlins, the Los Angeles Dodgers looked to rebound against former manager Don Mattingly and his club with Clayton Kershaw on the mound. Miami countered with right-hander Tom Koehler.
Kershaw was on the hill for his fifth start of the season, but his first with Yasmani Grandal as catcher. Grandal did catch Kershaw for one inning in his previous outing after entering as a pinch-hitter. Kershaw was flawless in the first, striking out one and ending the inning by knocking down a comebacker off the bat of Christian Yelich then recovering to throw him out.
Koehler struggle with his command in the bottom half, walking Chase Utley to start the game, and Justin Turner with one out. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and they took an extra base as J.T. Realmuto’s throw to third base got away and rolled into the camera well.
Koehler then walked Gonzalez to put runners on the corners for Yasiel Puig. A second wild pitch scored another run and the Dodgers led 2-0 after the first despite not collecting so much as one hit.
Marcell Ozuna hit a one-out triple to left-center field with one out in the second, but Kershaw then struck out the next two hitters to strand him. The Dodgers got two hits in the second, but were unable to add to their lead as Koehler got two groundouts to end the inning.
Kershaw retired the Marlins in order in both the third and the fourth, giving him eight straight batters retired to that point. Carl Crawford walked in the bottom of the fourth and later scored on Kerhshaw’s RBI double.
CONTINUE READING: Giancarlo Stanton caps off big sixth inning, Dodgers get tying run to plate in ninth
