Losers in two straight and eight of their last 10 games, the Los Angeles Dodgers once again looked to Clayton Kershaw to end another skid. Kershaw’s start was the first of his career against the Toronto Blue Jays. He was opposed by R.A. Dickey, who infamously won the National League Cy Young Award over Kershaw in 2012.
Corey Seager drew a one-out walk in the first inning, and Adrian Gonzalez singled to left to give the Dodgers two on with two outs. However, Dickey got out of the inning unscathed as Yasiel Puig grounded out.
Kershaw started the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts of Kevin Pillar and Josh Donaldson, needing 14 pitches to do so. Jose Bautista continued to force Kershaw to work, fouling off multiple offerings before lining a double off the left field fence on the seventh pitch of the at-bat.
Edwin Encarnacion flied out on the first pitch he saw to strand Bautista. Joc Pederson opened the scoring for the Dodgers with a towering solo home run to center field in the second inning. Justin Smoak led off the bottom of the second with an infield single that skipped off Kershaw’s glove.
Troy Tulowitzki followed with a base hit to put two on with none out. After getting a double play, Kershaw allowed a RBI single to former teammate Darwin Barney that tied the game. Barney flipped his bat and yelled toward the Dodgers dugout on his way to first base.
Kershaw limited the damage to one run by striking out Josh Thole to end the inning. Chase Utley and Seager combined for back-to-back singles with no outs in the third. Justin Turner then reached on a Barney error to load the bases.
CONTINUE READING: Clayton Kershaw grinds through seven innings, Justin Turner provides insurance
