The highly-anticipated pitching matchup between Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers against Max Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays did not disappoint as both future Hall of Famers turned in solid starts.
But in the end, the Dodgers pulled away with the 5-1 victory thanks to a go-ahead home run off the bat of the struggling Mookie Betts and the offense breaking the game open in the seventh.
The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Addison Barger roped an RBI single to right field. That scored Bo Bichette, who reached on a weak single as Freddie Freeman was unable to make the play.
Outside of that inning, Kershaw kept the Blue Jays off the board despite allowing more traffic than he would’ve preferred. The left-hander allowed seven hits and one walk over his six innings of work while striking out just four.
Although they had the leadoff hitter on in four of six innings against Kershaw, the Blue Jays left four runners on base against him and grounded into two double plays.
Scherzer also pitched six innings, posting a similar line to Kershaw with six hits allowed, five strikeouts and three walks. The biggest difference is he allowed two runs as opposed to Kershaw’s one.
The Dodgers scored both of those in the sixth inning when Shohei Ohtani roped a two-out double and Betts followed with his 12th homer of the season. It was Betts’ first home run since July 5 and provides some potential hope that he’s breaking out of his offensive slump.
Once Scherzer was out of the game, the Dodgers added on three runs against the Blue Jays’ bullpen. The rally started with a walk from Alex Freeland and a single from Ohtani.
Betts then grounded into a fielder’s choice that drove in Freeland, giving the shortstop his third RBI of the game. In Betts’ last 19 games, he had three RBI total.
Freeman walked to load the bases, and Will Smith then followed with his own walk, driving in another run. Teoscar Hernández drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly.
Dodgers bullpen shuts down Blue Jays
Following Kershaw, the Dodgers relied on three relievers to pitch the final three innings. Anthony Banda pitched 0.2 scoreless innings, Ben Casparius tossed 1.1 innings, and Blake Treinen closed it out.
In total, they allowed three hits and struck out three hitters.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
