Julio Teheran Draws Kershaw in Game 2

The Dodgers finally broke out of their annoying little two week offensive slump by defeating the Braves 6-3 on Memorial Day in the series opener. The boys in blue honored the brave men and women of the military with some offensive fireworks of their own to hang onto their slim NL West division lead over the Giants. Three home runs in the bottom of the eighth (Ethier, Guerrero, Rollins) won it for the Dodgers.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The series continues Tuesday night with game two. Julio Teheran will draw Clayton Kershaw as the Dodgers go for a series win.

Dodgers Lineup vs. Atlanta-
Pederson CF
Rollins SS
Kendrick 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Turner 3B
Ethier RF
Guerrero LF
Ellis C
Kershaw P

Julio Teheran-4-1 vs. Clayton Kershaw-2-3

Game Time – 7:10 PM

The Dodgers saw Teheran in the third game of the 2013 NLDS. In that game he was drawing Hyun-jin Ryu, and the Dodgers battered him around pretty good. In the regular season the Dodgers have beaten him twice. Teheran is 0-2 with a 4.14 ERA in just two starts against the Dodgers. The 24-year old right hander won 28 games from 2013-2014, and is 4-1 this year with a 3.91 ERA in nine starts. He’s struck out 47 and walked 19 in 50.2 innings pitched. Home runs allowed (9) have plagued him. He throws hard, and is rather inexperienced. He is 0-1 at Dodger Stadium.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers are hitting .275 (14 for 51) with one home run against Teheran. Surprisingly Jimmy Rollins has hit him the best. Rollins is hitting .318 (7 for 22) with one home run, and four extra base-hits against him.

This will be Clayton Kershaw’s tenth start of the season and first this year against the Braves. Kershaw is 2-3 with a 4.32 ERA. The reigning MVP has struck out 73 and walked 16 in 58.1 innings pitched. Kershaw has struggled this year, and if you see his 8.6 hits per nine rate you can see why. That’s way above his career norm of 6.8. He’s just giving up too many hits and base runners. He’s allowed six home runs as well. He allowed just nine all of last year.

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Kershaw has pitched in five games against Atlanta, (during the regular season), and is 1-0 with a 2.11 ERA. The current Braves are batting just .151 (14 for 93) with one home run against Kershaw. Kersh has struck out 35, and walked 13 with a .457 OPS against.

I hope this is the game that turns Kershaw’s season around. He may not win a Cy Young this season, but he can still have a solid year. There is still time. However he has got to get his off-speed pitches working, and stop melting down in the seventh innings.

Stat of the day-Kershaw has allowed an 11.25 ERA in the seventh inning this year, but has allowed the least amount of hits in the seventh innings (4). He allows the most hits in the fourth innings (14), and has a .959 OPS against in the fourth frame.

The Dodgers are 27-17 with a 20-5 record at Dodger Stadium. That’s the best home record in Baseball. The Braves are 22-22, 4.5 games behind Washington. Join us here after the game to check out our nightly recap. Stacie will have the call. Go Blue!