Steve Webb
SEATTLE, WA — What a way to win a division! Needing just one win to clinch their 10th NL West crown in eleven years, the Dodgers played one of the most entertaining scoreless games you’ll ever see for nine innings. Then, they hit their stride in extras, scoring once in the tenth, and then putting up five big runs in the eleventh to beat the Mariners 6-2. Given the stakes, it was one of the best games of the year.
The first nine innings, though, were straight-up pitchers’ duel. Jason Heyward kept hitting doubles and getting stranded at second, but other than that, the Dodgers couldn’t get much going against Bryce Miller and the M’s Bullpen.
Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw got the start for the Dodgers and pitched four innings of scoreless ball. Did he look like “vintage Kershaw”? No. Did he labor to find the strike zone in the first two innings? Yes. But did he hold the Mariners at bay and get better as the night went on? Absolutely. And though his pitch count was a very manageable 56 pitches, Dave Roberts pulled Kersh after four innings and a very prolonged dugout conversation. Kersh’s final line for the night: 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.
Much has been made of Kershaw’s diminished “stuff” since returning from the IL. However, he still manages to put up good numbers in these shorter stints. Since his return from the shelf, he’s given up just seven earned runs in 26 innings of pitching over seven starts, which translates to a 2.42 ERA. In contrast, Gerritt Cole, who’s probably going to win the AL Cy Young award, has 2.81 ERA on the season. So yeah, I’ll take Kershaw as one of my postseason starters, thank you very much.
However, there was a whole lot more game to play after Kershaw’s exit. Emmet Sheehan came in and looked practically unhittable in his three innings of work (more of this please). Alex Vesia entered the game in the eighth and got into some trouble but got bailed out by yet another nails performance from Ryan Brasier. Brusdar Graterol threw a scoreless ninth, and the game was headed for bonus baseball.
The teams traded runs in the tenth. Kolten Wong came off the bench and haunted his former team with a sacrifice fly that plated a run in the top of the inning, and then Evan Phillips gave up a two-out RBI single to Mike Ford that scored the tying run. Phillips also gave up a double to J.P. Crawford, but the beefy Ford could not score on the hit and was left stranded at third when Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a forceout.
That brought up the pivotal top of the eleventh. Mookie Betts was the placed runner at second to start the inning. After a Freddie Freeman strikeout, Max Muncy stepped in against lefty Gabe Speier, the sixth Mariners pitcher on the night. Muncy didn’t mash the ball like we’re used to seeing from him. Instead he reached out and just got wood on a low-and-away slider and poked it into centerfield. Betts scampered home and the Dodgers were back on top in the game.
By the inning was far from over. Chris Taylor came through with a huge two-run single and Kike Hernandez poked another two-run single into right to give the Dodgers a huge 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the eleventh. Joe Kelly came in, and being Joe Kelly and all, made it very interesting with an error and a wild pitch, but in the end got two punch-outs and a harmless groundball to end the inning with only one run scoring. And with the results from Arizona and Colorado, the Dodgers were once again Kings of the West. Pop the champagne, Dodger fans. All is right with the world.
For one night anyway.
