The Los Angeles Dodgers entered play on Sunday needing a win to avoid their seventh winless homestand since moving to Dodger Stadium in 1962, and to avoid being swept by the San Diego Padres for the first time since April 2013.
The Dodgers’ six-game losing streak was already their longest since an eight-game skid in May 2013. Those factors, coupled with Clayton Kershaw having one bad inning erase a strong start in his previous outing, seemingly led to the three-time Cy Young Award winner taking Sunday’s series finale personally.
Kershaw pounded the strike zone in the first inning, striking out the side on just 11 pitches. Perhaps equally as impressive, he finished off each batter with a different pitch in his arsenal.
Jon Jay was frozen by a curveball, Wil Myers swung over a slider that ended at his back foot, and Matt Kemp saw a fastball paint the black on the outside corner. “I felt fine,” said Kershaw after throwing a complete-game shutout with 14 strikeouts.
“It’s always great to get off to a good start like that, but sometimes in a day game here, guys complain about being able to see. So, I’m sure that’s playing into it; guys swinging through fastballs. Nonetheless, I’ll take it.”
The Dodgers needed every bit of Kershaw’s brilliance to get back in the win column and pull to .500 before departing on a five-game road trip. He carried a perfect game into the fifth inning, only to lose it on an Alexei Ramirez two-out single that landed just fair beyond first base; Ramirez was thrown out by Yasiel Puig attempting to leg out a double.
San Diego’s only threat came in the seventh when Myers beat the shift with a grounder to second base that rolled into center, and Kemp followed with a broken-bat flare single to right field. Kershaw barreled down to strikeout Melvin Upton Jr., and got Derek Norris to fly out on the first pitch.
Although the end result was another zero, Kershaw acknowledged he had some luck on his side. “Honestly, I hung a slider to Upton to strike him out,” he said. “There was a little bit of good fortune there since he swung through it. He probably could’ve done some damage with that pitch. Norris, I was able to get in on him a little bit.”
From inside the press box at Dodger Stadium to those in the dugout, it was evident early that Kershaw was going to put the Dodgers on his back. “He had that look in his eyes, especially now accentuated by our losing streak,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He wasn’t going to be denied.”
Roberts added the performance was among the most dominant he’s seen, and called Kershaw the “best pitcher in baseball.” A.J. Ellis, Kershaw’s close friend and batterymate on Sunday, said, “You definitely knew he was on his game. … He set the tone and gave us a lot of energy coming back into the dugout after the top of the first, and never wavered.”
After hitting a double off the center field fence in the third inning, Ellis scored the Dodgers’ lone run, driven in by Kershaw on an RBI single. The catcher, however, joked he was hardly confident in Kershaw’s ability to deliver.
“There’s a lot of doubt,” Ellis said. “He’s a pitcher, and he’s facing a really good left-handed pitcher.” Then Ellis continued, “One thing about Clayton offensively, he’s a grinder and battles. You know he’s going to keep fighting. He’s never going to give anything away.”
“I never try to do too much. I just try to do something,” Kershaw said of the at-bat. He joined Fernando Valenzuela (1981, 1984) as the last three pitchers to throw a complete-game shutout with 10-plus strikeouts and have the RBI.
Kershaw nonetheless downplayed his dominance and the correlation it had the Dodgers coming away with a victory. “Just winning, I think that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “Finishing the game is great, it’s something you take a little pride in. It felt good to be part of the win.”
Ever the perfectionist, Kershaw unwittingly left opponents to ponder what will likely become reality. “My slider was good, I was able to throw it for strikes when I needed to and put it in the dirt when I needed to,” he said. “The curveball is still off and on. One of these days, I’ll get both going.”
