Roger Arrieta
LOS ANGELES—It was another milestone night for future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw recorded his 2,500th career strikeout, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and helped Los Angeles beat Arizona 5-1 in the series finale. Kershaw didn’t allow a run and struck out eight as the Dodgers recorded their fifth series sweep of the year and upped their overall record to 29-10.
GAME RECAP: The offense tore a page out of Wednesday’s playbook as they got hits in the first inning but was then stymied until late in the game. Corey Seager and Max Muncy scored in the first inning to stake Kershaw to a 2-0 lead and then the Dodgers waited until the seventh to put the game out of reach. LA didn’t have a baserunner after the first inning until Seager came through with a 1-out single in the sixth. The Dodgers scored two runs on four hits in the seventh and added a single run on three hits in the eighth as they outhit the Diamondbacks 11-4 in the game.
Seager started the scoring in the series finale when he laced a single to right center in the first. He advanced to second on a Muncy single down the first base line and scored on Cody Bellinger’s ground out to first base. On the run-scoring play, Bellinger turned on a 3-2 fastball and hit a grounder to first baseman Christian Walker. Walker stepped on the bag and tried to double up Muncy at second but his throw was close to Muncy’s body and was booted by shortstop Nick Ahmed. The ball caromed into short center field which allowed Seager to score all the way from second. Muncy would come home from second on the next at-bat when Chris Taylor singled to deep left-center field.
Arizona would get as close as 2-1 in the top of the seventh before LA closed the door with three unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth. Ahmed scored the lone run of the game in the seventh for the D-Backs but AJ Pollock quickly erased that run when he hit the first pitch of his pinch-hit, at-bat in the bottom of the seventh over the center field fence. His 416-foot yard shot was his seventh of the season. The second run of the inning came with two outs when Mookie Betts grounded a ball up the middle that plated Kiké Hernández after Hernández reached on a single to deep shortstop. Hernández drove in the final run of the game for LA on a 1-out single to center after Taylor moved up to third on a Matt Beaty infield base knock.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
IT’S FUN TO WIN: The win for the Dodgers was their 10th straight at home and 17th in the last 20 games. The victory, coupled with a 2-0 loss by San Diego against the Angels, also pushed Los Angeles’ lead in the NL West to a full 6.0 games – their biggest divisional lead of the year. Finally, the “W” capped off the fifth series sweep of the season and upped LA’s record against Arizona to 6-1 on the year.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE DAY: The 29-10 overall record by LA ties the second best start in club history after 39 games. The 1977 Dodgers were 30-9 after 39 games while the 1888 and 1955 Boys In Blue were also 29-10. LA remains unbeaten on Thursdays in 2020. The Dodgers are now 7-0 in Thursday games.
MOVIN’ ON UP: It seems that every time Kershaw takes the mound he moves up on some all-time list. His eight strikeouts on Thursday pushed him to 2,505 for his career and he became the 39th pitcher in the history of MLB to reach the 2,500-strikeout mark. He also upped his career win total to 174 which is three shy of Brickyard Kennedy for the No.4 spot on the club’s all-time win list. Kershaw also improved on his all-time win percentage among lefthanded pitchers in the history of baseball. Kershaw now has a career winning percentage of .699 (174-75).
TWILIGHT SCHMILIGHT: While some experts before the season started to wonder if Kershaw was in the twilight of his career, he has quickly silenced those critics after six starts of 2020. Kershaw has returned to being the No.1 pitcher for the Dodgers by mastering his newly found 3-pitch repertoire. Kershaw’s six scoreless innings on Thursday extended his scoreless streak to 15.0 innings which is the second longest by a Dodger pitcher this year (Tony Gonsolin – 16.2). He also lowered his ERA to 1.50 and his WHIP to 0.72. His WHIP leads all MLB starters with at least five starts and his ERA is third lowest. Oh yeah, he is also 5-1 on the year and his five wins are tied for fourth in MLB.
HE SAID IT: “The No.1 thing is that he is healthy. Clayton has done a great job in getting back. Right now he feels healthy and strong. He is pitching like an ace again.”—Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on the difference between Clayton Kershaw this year and in the past couple of seasons.
LIKING THE LEADOFF SPOT: Betts had another base knock in the series finale and has now hit safely in six straight games. Betts is one of the top leadoff men in all of MLB. The Dodgers are 20-4 when Betts hits in the No.1 spot in the order. He has a slash line of .320/.412/.639 when batting leadoff. His batting average and on-base mark are second in the NL among leadoff hitters (Trea Turner – Wash. – .358/.414). His slugging percentage is second only to Fernando Tatis Jr. (S.D. – .663) in all of MLB.
SEAGER RAKES: Don’t look now but someone is in the Top 11 of MLB in hitting. Seager was 3-for-4 in the series finale which bumped his season average to .323. He is currently 11th in all of baseball, and seventh in the NL, in BA. Seager is also in the Top 20 in MLB in slugging percentage (16th – .600 ) and OPS (20th – .971). Seager is currently second among NL shortstops in average as well as slugging percentage and OPS.
HELLO HERNÁNDEZ: Kiké Hernández was one of three Dodgers’ players with more than one hit on Thursday. He went 2-for-4 which was his first multiple-hit game since Aug. 20 at Seattle. Since that game in Seattle he had been mired in a 2-for-24 (.083) slump. Hernández now has a .220/.255/.370 slash line for the year.
CT5: Chris Taylor was the third LA player to post a multiple-hit game. He went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored while batting in the No.5 hole. The Dodgers are now 7-1 when Taylor hits fifth in the batting order. Taylor upped his season average to .261 this year which .001 of a point below his 7-year career average.
ON DECK: The Dodgers will stay at Chavez Ravine and host Colorado in a 3-game series over the weekend. LA, who is 14-5 at home in 2020, swept the previous 3-game series with the Rockies. Those three games were on Aug. 21-23 – and also played at Dodger Stadium. LA will go with a youth-friendly starting trio of Dustin May (22), Tony Gonsolin (26) and Juio Urías (24) for the Labor Day weekend. Colorado, who has an 18-19 overall record but is just 6-14 in their last 20 games, is scheduled to start Antonio Senzatela (R), German Marquez (R) and TBA.
