LOS ANGELES — After the Dodgers’ 11–5 victory over the Giants Friday night at Dodger Stadium, manager Dave Roberts was measured but upbeat in assessing a game that featured dominant pitching from Clayton Kershaw and a long-awaited power surge from Shohei Ohtani.
Roberts noted that Kershaw’s performance, in many ways, resembled his old self. “I was seeing parts of vintage Kershaw,” Roberts said, adding that the veteran left-hander’s mindset was shaped by the stakes of the game. “Knowing it’s a big series and wanting to stay away from the pen as much as possible, I think all that played into his mindset going into tonight.”
Kershaw delivered seven scoreless innings on just 81 pitches, walking one and striking out five. Roberts emphasized how critical that efficiency was, especially with a stretch of tough games ahead. “He was efficient, worked ahead all night, and just put pressure on those guys,” Roberts said. “That put us in a good spot tonight.”
One of the key developments for Kershaw was the improvement of his signature curveball. “I thought the curveball was the best it’s been since he came back,” Roberts said. While Kershaw himself admitted after the game that he didn’t feel his slider was where it needed to be, Roberts said the mix of pitches helped make up for that. “I thought he mixed well. His fastball to the glove side was good, he used the curveball well, and he sequenced to work the front-to-back game,” he explained. “That gave him more margin for error with the slider, even if it wasn’t as sharp as last time out.”
According to Roberts, that ability to adapt is what continues to make Kershaw effective. “You’re not going to have your best stuff all the time, but the question is how do you navigate hitters when you don’t. Today, it was the curveball and glove-side fastball that got him through.”
There was no debate about whether to send Kershaw out for the eighth. Roberts said the veteran was content with what he gave the team. “That was the first time he’d gotten into the seventh in quite some time, so that was all he needed to give us,” Roberts said. “He did a really good job saving the pen.”
The bullpen did run into trouble late, with Kike Hernández surrendering a grand slam and five total runs in the ninth before Anthony Banda came in to record the final out. Roberts said the plan going into the night was to try to squeeze innings wherever possible to preserve arms, especially with a four-game series against San Diego starting on Monday. “You try to manage every arm, every inning, especially in a series like this. We tried to squeeze an inning, but we had to get Banda in the game. I still feel like it was 100 percent the outcome we wanted—only using two relievers.”
Offensively, Roberts praised the team’s balanced and patient approach, particularly in a month that’s featured its share of inconsistency. “Tonight we just had a really good team approach,” he said. “We took walks when we needed to, ran deep counts, and when we slugged, we did damage.” Roberts noted that the club hadn’t been executing that way earlier this month, but “getting started early and showing power” felt like a return to form.
At the heart of that power was Shohei Ohtani, who homered twice, including his 250th career blast. Roberts said he hadn’t realized it had been 10 home games since Ohtani last went deep. “He has a way of leveling things out,” Roberts said. “Hitting two homers tonight gets him back on track.”
Roberts acknowledged that Ohtani had been chasing more than usual recently, but felt Friday’s effort was a sign of progress. “There was a lot of chase down below the zone the last 10 days,” he said. “Tonight, he got the ball up, used a big part of the field, and put some good swings together. When he goes, it makes life a lot easier for all of us.”
Finally, when asked if Ohtani might be considered for a late-inning pitching appearance in a future blowout just to get his feet wet, Roberts shut the idea down. “Probably not,” he said. “When Shohei pitches, it’s going to be to start a game or open a game, whatever it is.”
With the win, the Dodgers regained sole possession of first place in the NL West and will look to carry their momentum into Saturday’s contest as the rotation continues to stabilize and the bats show signs of heating up.
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