The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a sixth consecutive loss on Saturday night, which prompted rookie Ross Stripling, that evening’s starter, to say, “We’re going to put the team on (Clayton) Kershaw’s back [on Sunday], and hopefully he can come through.”
Not that there was any doubt whether Kershaw would answer the bell against the San Diego Padres in the homestand finale, but the first inning certainly cemented it. The Dodgers’ ace struck out the side, needing just 11 pitches to do.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ attempt to infuse some life into his offense by shaking up the lineup didn’t come with an early returns as Yasiel Puig popped up on the first pitch he saw. Drew Pomeranz proceeded to retire Kiké Hernandez and Adrian Gonzalez to finish a scoreless first inning.
Melvin Upton Jr. was called out on strikes to open the second inning, then Derek Norris snapped Kershaw’s streak of consecutive strikeouts by grounding out. Alexei Ramirez also managed to make contact, only to fly out to right field. Pomeranz matched Kershaw by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the second.
After again keeping the Padres off the bases in the third, Kershaw helped himself in the bottom half of the inning as he followed an A.J. Ellis double with an RBI single to center that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.
Ramirez ended Kershaw’s perfect game in the fifth by shooting a two-out single inside the first base line. While Kershaw’s bid for history was lost, his shutout remained intact as Puig threw a strike to second base to nail Ramirez on his attempt to leg out a double.
CONTINUE READING: Clayton Kershaw turns in dominant performance to end losing streak
Trayce Thompson pulled a one-out double down the left field line in the bottom of the fifth. Then with two outs and Thompson at third base, Pomeranz intentionally walked Ellis to face Kershaw. The strategy paid off as Kershaw struck out swinging.
Kershaw continued to mow his way through the Padres’ lineup in the sixth, opening and closing the inning with a strikeout to give him eight on the day. Dodgers’ bats continued to go quiet, with Pomeranz retiring Puig, Hernandez and Gonzalez in order in the bottom of the sixth.
Jay fell to 0-for-3 on the day with the strikeouts as he went down swinging to start the seventh. Wil Myers then beat the Dodgers’ shift with a grounder through the hole at second base, and Kemp followed with a flare single to put runners on the corners with one out.
Kershaw worked his way out of trouble by striking out Upton Jr. and getting Norris to fly out. Turner reached with no outs in the bottom of the seventh on an Adam Rosales error, but the Padres third baseman redeemed himself immediately after to start a double play on a Howie Kendrick grounder.
Ramirez and Rosales both were unable to check their swings and struck out in the eighth. Christian Bethancourt, pinch-hitting for Jemile Weeks, fouled out on the first pitch he saw. Ellis drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth but was stranded, and the Dodgers’ lead remained stuck at 1-0.
No matter, the one run Kershaw supplied was all that was needed, as he ran his strikeout total to 14 en route to retiring the side in order in the ninth to notch his 22nd career complete game, 13 of which are shutouts.