Clayton Kershaw admitted as of Thursday morning he did not envision Game 5 of the National League Division Series coming to an end in the fashion it did. Sure, Kershaw believed the Los Angeles Dodgers were likely to call on Kenley Jansen for five or six outs.
In no way could the three-time Cy Young Award winner foresee eliminating the Washington Nationals. But that all changed once the Dodgers were forced to call on Jansen in the seventh inning, leading to Kershaw to speak with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“I was just kind of doing the math,” Kershaw said. “[Jansen] threw 20 pitches in that seventh inning, and I just said, ‘I’m going to go get loose, see how I feel and I’ll let you know, but I might be able to do this.'”
Roberts said prior to Game 5 that Kershaw would “absolutely not” pitch despite it being a winner-take-all matchup. After all, he’d thrown 101 pitches in Game 1, then 110 more on three days’ rest in Game 4.
Kershaw swayed his manager to concede on that stance. “As far as an easy sell or not easy sell, I think Doc was initially hesitant for sure. But I don’t know, medium sell, I guess,” Kershaw said with a smile.
Roberts planned for Kershaw to face Daniel Murphy if the Nationals’ hot-hitting second baseman reached the plate in the ninth inning.
So, Kershaw made the walk from the dugout to left field to begin warming up in the top of the ninth. “The only thing for me, obviously the routine was completely different,” he said.
“But I had plenty of time getting loose. I threw enough pitches, took my time. Tried to time it out as best I could. … I had a plan out there. I knew what I was going to do warming up and I did it. I actually felt pretty good.”
Seemingly running on fumes, understandable given his extended workload, Jansen walked Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth with one out in the ninth inning. That brought Murphy to the plate, and Kershaw out of the bullpen.
Murphy’s string of success against the Dodgers in October ended on a pop up. “I missed my spot honestly and got in on him a little bit and got him to jam,” Kershaw said of the two-pitch at-bat.
“But he’s such a tough out and I think honestly, all I did was just throw as hard as I can and hope he gets out.” Rookie Wilmer Difo struck out on a curveball in the dirt, and the Dodgers were bound for the NL Championship Series.
The save was the second of Kershaw’s professional career. His first came in 2006 in the Gulf Coast League. “The adrenaline rush was pretty good right there,” Kershaw said.
“I mean, it’s a different feeling to be out there for the last out. Just trying to keep everything in check, you know, it gives me a lot of respect for closers. You’re doing that 75 times a year, so that’s pretty impressive. You know, maybe not for me.”
With his relief appearance in Game 5 seemingly equating to a typical between-starts bullpen session, Kershaw expressed confidence he’d be prepared to start Game 2 of the NLCS on Saturday.
“We’ve still got to win eight more games,” he said, “and I think we realize that, and this team knows that.”
