Whether starting on regular or short rest, the postseason narrative for Clayton Kershaw held he was unable to get through the seventh inning, and win the big game. Some of that changed Tuesday night as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace held the New York Mets to one run in seven innings of work.
“Glad I did it, I guess,” Kershaw said of overcoming what’s been his Achilles heel. “I mean, there’s no curse or anything. Just gotta get through the seventh. So I don’t know.” The seven-inning outing on three days’ matched the longest of Kershaw’s postseason career.
It tied his Game 1 start in the 2013 National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves — one in which Kershaw also allowed one run on three hits, and had 12 strikeouts. Outside of the one walk he issued, Kershaw’s lone blemish was giving up a solo home run to Daniel Murphy in the fourth inning.
For Murphy, it was his second home run of the series; both coming off Kershaw. The New York Mets otherwise faded away into the night at Citi Field, becoming the latest team unable to square up any of Kershaw’s fastballs or breaking balls.
“Probably give A.J. [Ellis] the credit on that. He felt confident throwing the heater tonight with a lot of guys and able to get some outs behind in the count on it, which was great,” Kershaw said of throwing more fastballs in Game 4 than his Game 1 outing.
Not one to focus on personal achievements or accolades, Kershaw took solace in helping the Dodgers force a decided Game 5 on Thursday at Dodger Stadium. “I really wanted to win tonight, definitely. For a lot of reasons, but obviously most important was just to give Zack [Greinke] a chance,” Kershaw said.
