Phillies get past the Dodgers

Through 10 seasons, 287 starts and more than 1,900 innings, Clayton Kershaw had never given up a grand slam. Until Monday night.

Aaron Altherr hit his second career grand slam, a 418foot blast to left off Kershaw in the sixth, to lead the Philadelphia Phillies past the Los Angeles Dodgers and their ace, 4-3. “We had the lead and I blew it,” Kershaw said. Chris Taylor and Justin Turner led off the game with consecutive homers and Curtis Granderson also went deep for the Dodgers, who opened play with a magic number of four to clinch the NL West. At 96-54, Los Angeles still has the best record in baseball.

The Phillies have been a thorn in the side of Kerhshaw (17-4). The Dodgers’ ace left-hander dropped to 3-5 in his career versus Philadelphia, one of just three teams he has a losing record against.

“You try to make it just another game, but it’s really not,” Altherr said. “He’s a future Hall of Famer, so it’s definitely awesome to playing against him.”

The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner was cruising until the sixth, when he allowed a bloop single by Freddy Galvis between a pair of walks to load the bases for Altherr. The Phillies outfielder crushed Kershaw’s 1-1 breaking ball to give Philadelphia a 4-2 advantage.

“Obviously, it was pretty special,” Altherr said. “Thank God I was able to get a pitch to hit.”

Kershaw departed after the sixth and allowed four runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

“Just bad pitches, I guess,” Kershaw said. “The pitch to Altherr was a bad slider.”

Kershaw dropped to 2-2 with a 3.74 ERA in four starts since returning from the DL on Sept. 1 after a 33-game absence with a lower back strain.

“He’s really not quite there yet,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “His velocity is down a little, but he’s getting near where he wants to be. He’s still one of the best in the game and a Cy Young candidate.”