In Game 6, for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was all about the class of Kershaw.
Back at Target Field for Game 6, the Dodgers leaned on Kershaw, coming off a strong seven-inning showing in Game 2. His opponent was the Minnesota Twins Game 2 starter, Dobnak.
This, however, was Dobnak’s worst outing of the post-season. It began with a leadoff walk to Betts, which Seager followed by rolling a single through the right-side hole. Turner’s line single to right gave LA a quick 1-0 lead and sent Seager around to third. He scored on Matt Beaty’s fly ball to deep center.
Donaldson’s wild throw on Taylor’s one-out ground ball led to LA’s third run in the top of the second inning. Taylor took third on a double inside the left-field line by backup catcher Tim Federowicz, then scored on Betts’ base hit to right.
When Taylor homered with one out in the fourth, Kershaw had a 4-0 lead.
As it turned out, that would be more than enough. The Dodger ace held Minnesota hitless until Buxton opened the fifth inning with a triple to the gap in right-center, scoring on Rosario’s double. The Twins’ first shot at a rally built momentum when Garver walked and Marwin Gonzalez laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third.
But Kershaw got Polanco on a bouncer to Turner at third, who gunned down Rosario at the plate. When Kepler struck out, the threat ended with just that single run on the board.
Seager stretches the LA lead to 5-2 in the eighth with a single that drove home Federowicz, who had singled to open the inning.
Minnesota mounted an eighth-inning rally that got Kershaw out of the game. Kepler began it with a one-out double, scoring on Sano’s base hit. But Baez came on to strike out Donaldson for the third out.
In the ninth, Jansen’s spotty relief work continued. He delivered an inning-opening home run ball to Buxton that brought the Twins within two runs at 5-3 before getting Rosario on a fly ball and fanning Garver and pinch hitter Jake Cave to even the series at three games each.
Los Angeles 210 100 100 — 5 8 1
Minnesota 000 010 011 –3 5 1
W: Kershaw. L: Dobnak. S: Jansen.