Steve Webb
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Wow! Sure, go ahead and say Walker Buehler is the ace of the staff. That’s cool. No problem, go ahead and pitch him out of the five-hole the first time around. But make no mistake. Clayton Kershaw is the best starting pitcher of his generation. And he’s still got it him. He was masterful today at Target Field, pitching seven perfect innings and striking out 13 in a 7-0 win over the Minnesota Twins. The three-time Cy Young award winner was pulled with an immaculate stat line. And though he could have probably gone deeper in the game, he was pulled after 80 fabulous pitches, so we will never know if he could have gotten those last six outs. Things happened after that, but it hardly mattered. This was Kersh’s day.
Dodgers get ahead early
The Dodgers got on the board right away. Mookie Betts, who was swinging a pretty good bat in Minneapolis, led off with a double. After a Trea Turner infield single and an HBP from Max Muncy, Justin Turner came through with another opposite field RBI single. His line drive to right pushed two runs across, and the Dodgers were in business with a 2-0 lead. Trea Turner tacked on one more in the next inning with a sacrifice file.
It’s Clayton’s world, we’re just living in it
Meanwhile, Kershaw was mowing through the Twins’ lineup. The nasty slider came out to play today, and he was getting beaucoup swings and misses throughout the afternoon. It was 21 up, 21 down for Kershaw when his day finally ended with a handshake from Dave Roberts. Alex Vesia gave up a single to Gary Sanchez in the eighth to break up the perfect game and no-hitter, but that was about all the Twins could muster on this Wednesday afternoon.
Homer party in the late innings
With Kershaw out of the game, the offense decided to put the game away in the later innings. In the eighth, Cody Bellinger, Gavin Lux, and Austin Barnes went back to back to back with the big fly. It was especially good to see Belli go yard for the first time this season, and he now has raised his average to .222 after getting an 0fer in the first two games. Then, in the ninth, Max Muncy took out his early season frustrations on a baseball for his first homer of the year. That put a lucky 7 on the scoreboard and there the score would stay until Justin Briuhl pitched a perfect inning to end the game.
Dodgers head home with a head of steam
In all, it was a glorious afternoon. The line score for Kershaw and his two relievers for the day: 9 scoreless innings, one hit, one walk, 14 strikeouts. That’ll work. After the game, Kersh expressed a little disappointment about not being able to try and finish the game, but was very understanding. “In the end, we want to win. It’s not about individual stuff,” he told reporters after the game. And it was hard to disagree. It would have been nice to see if he could have gone the distance, but it wouldn’t have been prudent to put that accomplishment in front of the team’s long term goals. The team will hop on the next plane out of MSP, and fly home for the first home series of the season. It looks like Walker Buehler against the Reds on Thursday, and then Jackie Robinson Day on Friday night. Should be a lot of fun.
Cans of Corn…
- On a day in the thirties, Kersh was in beast mode, going sleeveless as he let it rip on the mound.
- Kershaw said that he felt like his slider wasn’t that great in the last few innings.
- The single by Gary Sanchez was a solid line drive over the infield. Legit breakup of a no-hitter.
- Three Dodgers had two-hit games today: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Cody Bellinger.
- For all the early season whining about Bellinger, he’s gotten multiple hits in two of his last three games.
- Too bad that the game was probably not seen by much of the Dodgers fan base, being an early game on a weekday. But that’s why Dodger Replay was invented. If you can check it out sometime, it’s must-see TV.
