Dodgers Way Quick Hits: Kershaw, Ferguson, Taylor

The Dodgers beat the Mets 8-3 on Saturday evening in a game that was close until Matt Kemp broke the game open with a pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning.

The Dodgers defeated the Mets yesterday evening in a game that was a close until Matt Kemp hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning to put the Dodgers up 8-2.  The Dodgers ended up winning the game 8-3 and stayed 2.5 games back of first place as the Arizona Diamondbacks also won.  The Dodgers were able to beat the Mets with Jacob deGrom pitching and will get a much easier matchup on paper for today’s game against the Mets bullpen as Jason Vargas is unabe to make today’s start.  If the Dodgers are able to complete the series sweep they will finish the road trip with a 4-2 record despite losing two of three to the Chicago Cubs.

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• Clayton Kershaw made his return to the Dodgers yesterday and pitched three innings allowing five hits and two earned runs.  As expected, Kershaw did show some signs of rust and had to work out of a couple jams.  The fastball sat around 90-91 miles per hour for Kershaw which is not bad at all for a pitcher who has not pitched in a real game in over a month.  As long as Kershaw came out of yesterday’s game with no setbacks, he will make his next start on Thursday or Friday.  An ideal pitch count for Kershaw’s next start is 80 pitches.
• Although the focus was on Kershaw yesterday, the star pitcher of the game was Caleb Ferguson.  Not only did Ferguson pick up his first major league win, he threw four shutout innings striking out six batters and walking only one.  Ferguson worked his way out of a few jams as well and used the strikeouts to avert danger.  It was the best-pitched game of Ferguson’s brief Dodger career and Dave Roberts said after the game that Ferguson would stick on the roster and possibly “piggyback” Kershaw’s next start.
• Chris Taylor once again sat out a game yesterday due to his hamstring tightness but CT3 did have a big pinch-hit double that put the Dodgers up 3-2 in the top of the fourth inning.  This is a good sign for Taylor that he will avoid a potential DL stint.  Hopefully, the big hit off of deGrom will get Taylor going again so he can be a force atop the Dodgers lineup.

Next: Kershaw needs to stop rushing himself back and hurting himself

• Dodgers catching prospect Will Smith once again homered on Saturday to give him eleven home runs on the season and a home run in four straight games.  The Dodgers could use Smith to land them a much-needed trade piece in July with Keibert Ruiz being the one untouchable prospect in the Dodgers organization.