The Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to sweep the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series on Sunday night, so they now play a Game 4 on Monday afternoon at SunTrust Park.
The Dodgers only need one more win to advance to the NL Championship Series for the third straight season, but if they don’t get it in Atlanta on Monday then they will be forced to fly home for a decisive Game 5 at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed who the starter for that game would be, and he has decided to go with Clayton Kershaw, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Clayton Kershaw will start Game 5 for #Dodgers if there is a Game 5, Dave Roberts says.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 8, 2018
The Dodgers opted to go with Hyun-Jin Ryu in Game 1 of the series and Kershaw in Game 2, which brought up a lot of discussion of how the organization currently views Kershaw. Roberts explained it was simply a matter of both pitchers receiving extra rest.
Kershaw put all the questions to bed by tossing a gem in Game 2, throwing eight shutout innings while allowing just two hits with three strikeouts and zero walks.
Ryu also did not allow a run in his outing, pitching seven great innings, but the organization has opted to go with their longtime ace if a Game 5 is necessary.
Obviously, they would like to avoid that scenario by beating the Braves in Game 4 and then have both Kershaw and Ryu fresh for the NLCS. They send veteran lefty Rich Hill to the mound at SunTrust Park to do that.
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