The Los Angeles Dodgers took a commanding 2-0 lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series, shutting them out for the second straight night on Friday.
As was the case in Game 1, the Dodgers got their starter early runs to work with in the bottom of the first inning. Joc Pederson led off with a double and later scored on a two-run home run off the bat of Manny Machado.
Machado jumped on a 3-0 cutter from Braves starter Anibal Sanchez to put the Dodgers out in front. The home run was just the second postseason long ball of Machado’s career.
The Dodgers then added another run in the fifth inning on a homer by Yasmani Grandal, his first of the postseason. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet night for the offense. Luckily though, the three runs were more than enough for Clayton Kershaw.
There was a lot of talk leading up to the game about Kershaw and if he is being passed over by some of the team’s other starters since he was moved to Game 2 and Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched a gem in Game 1.
He put all of those narratives to bed though by pitching the best postseason game of his career, allowing just two hits in eight shutout innings. Kershaw only struck out three, but had Braves hitters off-balanced all night, living on the corners.
Kershaw only required 85 pitches to get through eight innings, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided that was enough and closer Kenley Jansen came in an nailed down the save to take a 2-0 lead.
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