Dodgers 3 Diamondbacks 2: SVS Saves the Day

The Dodgers got one big hit, and that was all they needed to take game three in Arizona.

Every Kershaw day recap needs to start with Clayton Kershaw. Kersh has struggled in his career at Chase Field, with a 3.90 ERA in 11 career starts in the desert. Mind you, that’s not an awful number, but by Kershaw standards it’s roughly equivalent to a 60.00 ERA for a human pitcher. I think I did the math right.

Kershaw made a mistake to Rickie Weeks in the second inning, and Weeks hit it a long way into the left field bleachers to put the Dodgers down 1-0. Weeks got the second DBack hit of the game against Kershaw with a double to right, but Kershaw stranded him there. However, not all was perfect.

A.J. Ellis was set up inside, so it was probably a combination of bad setup, missing location and Ellis’ poor framing. This was his seventh walk of the season, three of which could probably have been strikeouts. This Grant Brisbee piece on Kershaw’s five walks in April+May is one of my favorite pieces of sports writing ever, and it’s well worth your time

We joke around about Kershaw having to do it all when he starts, but it honestly looked that way until the sixth inning. Patrick Corbin did a good job, but the Dodgers got baserunners and couldn’t cash them in for most of the game. They finally broke through in the sixth, with back to back two-out singles, which were cashed in with Scott Van Slyke‘s first dinger of the season, which put the Dodgers up 3-1.

Kershaw was unable to toss a #ShutdownInning in the bottom of the sixth, as Michael Bourne singled and Paul Goldschmidt missed a game-tying homer by about the size of a baseball.

So close, fan in the #42 shirt. Follow your dreams.

This ended up being a long single, but Bourne scored on the play. Goldy got to second on a bad pickoff throw, but Kershaw got Weeks to line out to end the frame.

Kershaw instantly got in trouble in the seventh when Wellington Castillo hit a double to left that Van Slyke misjudged badly. However, Kershaw got a strikeout, groundout and strikeout to leave him there. Kershaw finished the game at 104 pitches through 7.1 innings, striking out 11 Diamondbacks and allowing five hits, two runs and a walk. 133 strikeouts, seven walks on the season.

He was pulled for Joe Blanton, who almost got hurt by a Corey Seager error. The error brought Goldschmidt to the plate for the chance to give Arizona the lead, but Blanton got him to ground out to end the eighth. Kenley Jansen tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to wrap up the 3-2 victory, and he tied Eric Gagne for the franchise record with his 161st career save.

The Dodgers came into the game with the lowest bullpen ERA in the National League, 3.05. Remember that stat next time they give up a run and people start claiming the nerdz didn’t do anything to improve the bullpen. After Kershaw and Jansen, the lowest qualified ERA’s on the team belong to Blanton and Louis Coleman, both of whom were picked up by this FO. The two lowest ERA’s belong to Casey Fien and Adam Liberatore, but neither of them have pitched enough to qualify. Both of them, also additions by this front office. I would love for them to go get one more great arm out of the pen, but give credit where credit is due. The guys that are here are getting the job done, we just tend to remember the handful of games where they fail as opposed to the majority of games when they succeed.

Next: Dodgers Day One Draft Picks

In all, the Dodgers had a .500 roadtrip, losing two of three in San Francisco and winning two of three in Arizona. The three games they lost were all one-run losses, and if that doesn’t fully capture the 2016 Dodgers, nothing does. So close, but just couldn’t get one key hit (or an inopportune blown save), and that’s the difference between a 6-0 roadtrip and a 3-3.

The Dodgers return home tomorrow to kick off a six game homestand with three against the Milwaukee Brewers, who just got swept by the Giants.