Dodgers 6 Blue Jays 2: Everything Was Good!

The Dodgers were firing on all cylinders in game two of their series in Toronto.

We’re all so spoiled. Clayton Kershaw gave up two runs in seven innings and I couldn’t help but think he was off his game. Relatively speaking, sure, but Kershaw tossed his fourth consecutive double-digit strikeout game and his third consecutive game without issuing a walk. That’ll play. Including this start, Kershaw has allowed 38 hits, 13 runs (12 earned), three homers, three walks and 64 strikeouts. However, his ERA jumped above 2.00. At the same time, his K/BB rate is literally 21.33. The next highest in baseball entering today was 9.67. “Best pitcher in baseball” Jake Arrieta‘s? 3.08, 37th in baseball and also lower than Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda. It’s obviously not an end-all stat, but everything I just typed is borderline ridiculous.

Kershaw got in trouble a couple times, but for the most part did a solid job and got a couple key double plays. Old friend Darwin Barney did the most damage against Kershaw. He singled in Justin Smoak in the second inning and hit a single in the fifth, which was cashed in on a Kevin Pillar double.

Fortunately, the Dodgers gave Kershaw some run support this time. R.A. Dickey had a solid outing for the Jays, but Joc Pederson opened up the scoring with his fifth home run of the season in the second. The Dodgers put up a crooked number in the third with some luck. After a Chase Utley single and a Corey Seager infield single, Justin Turner grounded to second and Barney made an error to load the bases. A passed ball scored the first run, and Adrian Gonzalez singled in the other two to make it a 4-1 game. Turner would add some insurance in the eighth on his first homer of the season. They added a sixth with runners on the corners in the ninth. Carl Crawford hit a slicing line drive that had double written all over it, but Kevin Pillar made an incredible diving grab that turned it into a sac fly.

Seeing Gonzo, Turner and Seager getting hits is very promising. I firmly believe the Dodgers struggles have been due to the offense as opposed to the pitching or the bullpen, so if those three can get going the Dodgers should be fine.

Kershaw wasn’t super efficient and was pulled after the seventh with 112 pitches. Pedro Baez tossed a 1-2-3 and forced weak contact in doing so, and Kenley Jansen came into a non-save situation and allowed a single, but got Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Troy Tulowitzki to end the game..

Offense was good, pitching was good, defense was good, bullpen was good. Good job dummies. Keep doing that instead of the other thing where two of those are terrible. This was really the type of performance I expect out of this team (maybe not with the starting pitching, because no one is Kershaw). Doing it once is nice, but they really need a string of these types of games in the worst way possible.

The Dodgers look for the series win tomorrow with Ross Stripling taking on Marco Estrada. First pitch is scheduled for 10:07 AM PST.