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
Utley raced home on Dickey’s wild pitch, but was called out. The Dodgers challenged the call, which was overturned, giving Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Gonzalez promptly followed with a two-run single to extend the lead.
Kershaw erased a Donaldson one-out single by getting Bautista to ground into a double play to end the third inning with the Dodgers still ahead, 4-1. Dickey retired the side in order in the fourth, marking the first time he’d done so on the day.
Kershaw followed suit in the bottom half of the fourth, ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts of Smoak and Tulowitzki. A Seager base hit in the fifth didn’t amount to anything as Turner grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Barney improved to 2-for-2 on the afternoon with a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth. He then raced around to score on a Pillar RBI double that carried over Howie Kendrick’s head, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2.
Kershaw once again held the Blue Jays to just one run in an inning, this time getting Donaldson to chase a pitch in the dirt. Both pitchers locked in, keeping opposing offenses off the bases in the sixth inning.
Tulowitzki went down swinging to open the bottom of the seventh, giving Kershaw 10 strikeouts on the day. That marked a fourth consecutive start for Kershaw this season with double-digit strikeouts.
Michael Saunders knocked a one-out single, only for it to be followed by Barney grounding into a double play that ended the seventh, which was Kershaw’s final inning of work. Turner provided insurance in the top of the eighth with a two-out solo home run that stayed fair down the left field line.
The home run was Turner’s first of the season. Pedro Baez took over in the bottom of the eighth and collected one strikeout as he retired Thole, Pillar and Donaldson in order. Kendrick drew a one-out walk, and went first to third on a routine grounder that Barney came up to early on.
With one out and runners on the corners, Pillar robbed Carl Crawford of an extra-base hit by making a diving catch in left-center field. Kendrick did tag to score on the play, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 6-2.
Kenley Jansen worked around a two-out single in the non-save situation to end the Blue Jays’ four-game winning streak.