The Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw had seen it before. Manager Dave Roberts witnessed it a mere five days prior. Six strong innings were in the books but now Kershaw was facing some trouble.
Anthony Rizzo drew a leadoff walk on four pitches, there was a dropped foul ball and signs of Kershaw being fatigued as his command waned. With Javier Baez due up and the potential tying run at first base, Roberts went out to speak with Kershaw.
Kenley Jansen had been warming up. The Dodgers could ill-afford to lose Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. “I had every intent to go out there and get [Kershaw] and go to Kenley,” Roberts said after his club’s 1-0 victory to even the NLCS.
“But as I went out there, looked him in the eye and just obviously the confidence that Clayton has to get a hitter, I went with my gut. So it was just about him executing. And obviously Baez got into it.”
Prior to Roberts reaching the mound Kershaw was surrounded by his teammates. On top of Kershaw lobbying to remain in the game, Yasmani Grandal was among those to vouch for the club’s ace.
“I told Kersh as soon as I got there before [Roberts] did, ‘Hey, we’re going at this guy. There’s no way he’s taking you out. You can get this guy out, you just have to make a pitch,'” Grandal told Tom Verducci on Fox Sports 1 during an on-field interview.
“And Clayton was right there with me. As soon as Doc got out there Clayton said, ‘I can get this guy.’ Obviously, I backed him up. I was 100 percent with him.” Kershaw did retire Baez, but not without a brief scare.
The Cubs’ spark plug connected on a fastball that caught too much of the plate and drove a deep fly ball to center field. Wrigley Field erupted, sensing, hoping, they were on the verge of taking a 2-1 lead.
Kershaw immediately put his hands on his knees and turned to watch the flight of the ball. Joc Pederson darted back and made the catch on the warning track.
“[Dave Roberts] is not going to trust me anymore if guys keep hitting the ball like that,” Kershaw said during an interview with Ken Rosenthal. “That was scary there, I thought that ball had a chance to get out. Off the bat I thought something bad, for sure. I kind of had a mini-stroke.”
The end result was Kershaw completing seven shutout innings two days after he closed out Game 5 of the NL Division Series. “He did a great job, we had a great plan, and he executed pitches. That goes to show why he’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Grandal raved.
“His command was pinpoint. We knew exactly where we wanted to go, we knew they were going to be aggressive against him, and he made pitches. He kept on getting soft groundballs here and there, getting quick outs, and that’s what we wanted.”
Kenley Jansen converted his first career six-out save, and the Dodgers handed the Cubs their first shutout loss in the postseason at Wrigley Field since Game 1 of the 1918 World Series.
