Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Remember in April, when the Arizona Diamondbacks took it to the Los Angeles Dodgers? When they looked like they were playing a different kind of baseball from the lead-footed Dodgers? Yeah, I don’t remember that, either. Those days couldn’t have been more distant at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night, as the home team put an absolute beatdown on the D-backs, beating the Snakes 9-1 for yet another August victory.
It was a Clayton Kershaw start for the Dodgers on Tuesday, and to be quite honest, he didn’t look his best. Too many walks, too many non-competitive pitches, too many baserunners. But, the deal is, even when Clayton is not at his best, he’s better than 95% of big league pitchers. He went a full five innings and threw 87 pitches, giving up one solo home run to rookie phenom Corbin Carroll. It was enough to notch Kershaw’s 209th victory in Dodger Blue, which moves him into second place all time on the franchise leader board into a tie with Don Drysdale. Only Don Sutton remains ahead of the lefty legend. He holds the record with 233.
“I think it just means I’ve been here for a long time and I’ve been part of some really great teams,” Kershaw said. “It’s great company. Drysdale and Sutton are two of the best, especially in Dodger history, so it’s cool.”
Kershaw’s outing, however, was not what won this game. What won this game was a relentless offensive attack against starter Merrill Kelly. It started early with a pair of RBI doubles in the bottom of the first from David Peralta and Jason Heyward, who both have picked up their game after a bit of a lull in the season. Then, the Dodgers just kept pouring it on. Miguel Rojas drove home a run in the second. Peralta and Chris Taylor delivered three more runs in the third, so before Kershaw exited the game, the Dodgers had put six runs on the board.
There were three more runs, two of which were scored on long home runs from Mookie Betts and Will Smith, and the Dodgers were absolutely firing on all cylinders as they coasted to an easy win.
“I have a lot of respect for Merrill and Zac (Gallen),” Roberts said. “They’ve both had great years and… we just really took great at-bats. We grinded them. We won a lot of big counts, lot of big at-bats. … Just across the board, situationally, we were good.”
The Dodgers go for a sweep of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night in a game that is sure to have a lot more balls flying in the heat. It will be Ryan Pepiot who will throw the lion’s share of the game, whether or not he starts. Having vanquished the D-backs two aces, Gallen and Kelly, the Dodgers now get into the lesser lights in the Arizona rotation. This time, it will be righty Brandon Pfaadt, whom the Dodgers saw earlier this month. Pfaadt had a rough go of it then. We’ll see what he’s got this time around. Game time, 7:10. Get out them brooms!
