Having dropped Game 3 of the National League Division Series to the Washington Nationals the Los Angeles Dodgers not only lost home-field advantage, but now face elimination Tuesday in Game 4.
In response to that, the Dodgers turn to Clayton Kershaw on three days’ rest. Prior to officially announcing Kershaw as the starter, Julio Urias was listed as the probable.
Kershaw has been great pitching on short rest the past three playoffs as in three starts he has thrown a combined 19 innings and posted a 1.89 ERA with 23 strikeouts to four walks. The Dodgers are 2-1 in those games.
Kershaw was not himself in Game 1 of the series however, as he labored through five innings and allowed three runs.
He threw 101 pitches, but finished with seven strikeouts and did manage to limit the damage by working out of trouble on multiple occasions, and the Dodgers hung on for a 4-3 victory.
Overall on the season, Kershaw went 12-4 with a 1.69 ERA, 1.80 FIP, 0.73 WHIP, and 172 strikeouts to 11 walks over 21 starts (149 innings).
Including Game 1, Kershaw is 10-2 with a 2.02 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 14 games (13 starts) against Washington in his career.
Nationals manager Dusty Baker elected to start Joe Ross in Game 4. The 23-year-old started 19 games on the season and went 7-5 with a 3.43 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 1.31 WHIP with 93 strikeouts and 29 walks in 105 innings.
After missing over two months with a shoulder injury, Ross made just three starts, throwing 9.2 innings with a 2.79 ERA. In two career starts against Los Angeles, he’s is 0-1 with a 5.73 ERA and 1.64 WHIP in 11 innings.
Corey Seager is the only Dodgers starter to homer off Ross, and he is 3-for-3. Dave Roberts’ lineup looks much as it did in Games 1 and 2, with Seager hitting back of Chase Utley, and Justin Turner batting third.
Turner is one of the only Dodgers with a high batting average in the series as he is 4-for-8 with four walks, a home run and two RBIs in the NLDS.
Anthony Rendon did the bulk of the damager off Kershaw in Game 1, connecting on a two-run single. Rendon also homered in Game 3, and has four RBIs in the series.
Dodgers lineup:
2B: Chase Utley
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
RF: Josh Reddick
CF: Joc Pederson
C: Yasmani Grandal
LF: Andrew Toles
P: Clayton Kershaw
Nationals lineup:
CF: Trea Turner
RF: Bryce Harper
LF: Jayson Werth
2B: Daniel Murphy
3B: Anthony Rendon
1B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Danny Espinosa
C: Pedro Severino
P: Joe Ross
