The Dodgers take charge in MLB playoffs behind Kershaw
By Bill Felber
Behind Kershaw’s strong seven innings, Los Angeles takes a 3-2 lead in the National League Championship Series in the MLB playoffs
Clayton Kershaw’s post-season redemption tour continued Wednesday at Dodger Stadium with seven strong innings as the Dodgers beat Milwaukee 5-2 to grab a 3-2 MLB playoffs lead in the National League Championship Series.
It was the second strong 2018 post-season start for Kershaw, who shut out the Atlanta Braves on two hits in the division series. The Dodgers go to Milwaukee needing one win in the final two games to advance to their second straight World Series.
The victory was probably Los Angeles’ most decisive of the NLCS. Not only did Kershaw and a reliever hold the Brewers to a single run on just three base hits through the eighth inning, but Dodger batters pounded out 9 hits.
More importantly, they hit when it counted. Four of those Dodger hits came with runners in scoring position, and all four drove those runners across.
The Brewers drew first blood, producing their only run in the third inning. Orlando Arcia managed a one-out single, and Lorenzo Cain rocked a double over Corey Bellinger’s head to get him home. Those were two of Milwaukee’s three hits off Kershaw, the other being Cain’s single in front of Bellinger to open the game.
After Cain’s RBI double, Kershaw retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced, allowing just one base on balls.
The Dodgers took command of the contest in the fifth after Chris Taylor singled up the middle and took second on Arcia’s wild throw to first. Against a drawn-in infield, Austin Barnes drove Taylor home with a base hit up the middle.
Yasiel Puig and Kiki Hernandez delivered run-producing hits in the sixth, and the Dodgers added a final two runs in the seventh when Kershaw walked, Bellinger doubled and Justin Turner singled Kershaw home. Bellinger scored moments later on a ground out.
The Brewers added a consolation run in the ninth on back-to-back doubles by Aguilera and Curtis Granderson.
This game had the potential to become a second-guesser’s dream, although in the end the maneuvering didn’t amount to much on the scoreboard. Brewers manager Craig Counsell initiated the fun when he started left-hander Wade Miley, then yanked him after a walk to Bellinger for right-hander Brandon Woodruff. The idea was to bait-and-switch Dodger manager Dave Roberts into lineup changes that would advantage the Brewers. Instead Roberts produced a hybrid lineup that necessitated only one subsequent switch – Joc Pedersen for David Freese.
Freese was a central figure in a second strategic issue in the third inning. With one out and Arcia on first base, Woodruff tried to bunt him into scoring position, but Freese eschewed the easy out in favor of letting the bunt try roll foul. That decision appeared to have backfired when Kershaw walked Woodruff. Cain’s run-producing double followed, but Woodruff was unable to advance past third, and he died there when Kershaw struck out Jesus Aguilera.
The NLCS returns to Milwaukee on Friday with Hyun-Jin Ryu taking the mound for the Dodgers in the MLB playoffs while Wade Miley again takes the mound for the Brewers.