The Dodgers may be sprinting towards the end line this yr, making an attempt to edge out the San Diego Padres in a tight Nationwide League West race.
However on Tuesday evening, in a win that saved them one recreation up within the standings with 29 to play, they made a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds really feel extra like a pleasant, leisurely stroll.
Clayton Kershaw continued his renaissance season, pitching 5 innings of one-run ball to earn a fifth-consecutive victory (his longest such streak for the reason that finish of the 2022 season). The offense steadily wore the Reds’ pitching workers down, answering a first-inning Cincinnati run with one in every of their very own earlier than taking the lead for good within the fourth.
All of it added as much as a third-straight win for the Dodgers (76-57), and helped them maintain serve on an evening the Padres beat the Mariners in Seattle (regardless of blowing an early five-run lead).
“It’s been actually enjoyable to look at our guys play on the stage that they’re able to,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “I like how we’re enjoying. I like the place we’re at proper now.”
Kershaw offered the bedrock for Tuesday’s victory.
The left-hander was pitching on 4 days’ relaxation for the third time this season (greater than anybody else on the crew), in order that Shohei Ohtani could possibly be lined as much as begin forward of an off day on Wednesday. His already diminished fastball was enjoying down, averaging solely 88 mph. And early on, the Reds (68-65) tagged him with a fast run, after Spencer Steer led off with a double and later scored on Miguel Andújar’s groundout.
“It wasn’t an incredible evening, stuff-wise,” Kershaw stated. “Didn’t have plenty of life on the fastball, or actually something.”
And but, beginning with that Andújar grounder, Kershaw proceeded to retire the final 14 batters he confronted. Six got here through strikeout, marking his second-highest strikeout whole this season. And of balls put in play, solely 4 have been “laborious hit” (with an exit velocity higher than 95 mph). Not one left the bat at greater than 100 mph.
It was the most recent instance of the 37-year-old left-hander’s newfound recipe for fulfillment: Hitting either side of the plate along with his fastball, leaning closely on a slider that generated 5 whiffs and 4 outs, and mixing in his trademark curveball and newfangled splitter to maintain a completely right-handed Reds lineup off-balance in a 72-pitch outing.
“We type of flipped the script and simply began throwing type of plenty of completely different stuff, making an attempt to be inventive, preserve them off steadiness,” Kershaw stated, whereas giving credit score to catcher Will Smith’s pitch-calling behind the plate.
“I’ve seen progress in that sense,” Roberts added. “Simply within the final couple years, he’s been extra open to doing various things. And I commend him for that. I feel in that fourth inning [when Kershaw retired the side with two strikeouts], you could possibly see — it didn’t matter what Will was placing down, he felt like he may throw something. And that’s one thing that was actually uncommon and actually cool to see.”
Given the low pitch rely, Kershaw may need been capable of go previous the fifth. He and Roberts appeared to have a short dialog within the dugout earlier than shaking palms, an indication his evening was over. However between his fast (by modern-day requirements, a minimum of) four-day turnaround, and the crew’s cautious administration of his workload general this season, Kershaw’s 5 innings have been lots.
“I feel that he’s sensible sufficient to know what number of bullets he has,” Roberts stated.
On the season, Kershaw is 9-2 with a 3.06 ERA, third-best amongst Dodgers starters this yr. He additionally finishes August with a 1.88 ERA in 5 begins, third-best amongst Nationwide League starters for the month.
“It was a very good August,” Kershaw stated. “Enjoyable to be part of it this time of yr.”
Whereas Kershaw cruised, the Dodgers’ offense additionally discovered a groove.
They erased the early 1-0 deficit within the backside of the primary, when Mookie Betts walked, Freddie Freeman doubled and Betts scored on a throwing error by Reds left fielder Austin Hays.
They took a 2-1 lead within the fourth, after a leadoff double from Teoscar Hernández, an infield single from Michael Conforto on a scorching comebacker that ripped the glove proper off the hand of Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, and a sacrifice fly from Kiké Hernández (who returned to the lineup for the primary time since early July after being out with an elbow damage).
Then, within the sixth, they broke the sport open with a four-run rally.
Smith rotated a center-cut fastball for an opposite-field, leadoff residence run, a optimistic signal for the slumping catcher who entered the evening with a .150 batting common in August and just one lengthy ball in his earlier 25 video games.
Miguel Rojas got here off the bench for a two-run double later within the inning, smoking a flyball to deep middle that received Noelvi Marte (who was making his first profession MLB begin in the midst of the outfield) rotated on the warning monitor.
Ohtani adopted that with an RBI single to proper, serving to him break a one-for-16 skid.
The one unhealthy information for the Dodgers on Tuesday got here pregame, when left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was positioned on the injured listing with a proper indirect pressure. Vesia described the damage as delicate and was hopeful of returning as soon as his 15-day IL stint was full.
However even with out him, the Dodgers’ bullpen largely coasted in aid of Kershaw. Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, each having just lately returned from the IL, pitched scoreless innings within the eighth and ninth (giving Scott his first save since returning). And although Hays hit a two-run residence run within the seventh off Ben Casparius, it did little to make Tuesday really feel like something greater than a late-season cakewalk — even amid a mad sprint down the season’s closing stretch.
Sasaki’s newest rehab begin
In triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis, rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki made the third begin of his minor-league rehab stint, giving up three runs in 3 ⅔ innings on 5 hits, two walks and 4 strikeouts. Essentially the most encouraging takeaway from the outing was Sasaki’s fastball velocity, which averaged 96 mph for a second-straight outing and topped out at 98.8 mph — the toughest he has thrown in his restoration from a shoulder damage. Sasaki is anticipated to make a minimum of yet one more rehab begin earlier than being able to be activated.
