Kershaw, Jansen stifle Cubs to get Dodgers even
CHICAGO — As Dave Roberts left his dugout, a circle of Dodgers surrounded Clayton Kershaw, forming a phalanx around a man who did not require one. It was the seventh inning of the second game of the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs, a contest this club could ill afford to lose. Kershaw cradled responsibility for the result like he cradled the baseball in his hand.
Kershaw did not say much as he surveyed the scene, with two outs, the tying run at first base and Chicago’s October catalyst Javier Baez due up. The three-time Cy Young Award winner asked catcher Yasmani Grandal if Roberts had already signaled to the bullpen. Grandal shook his head. Kershaw steeled himself for the conversation with Roberts, the dance with his playoff history and a duel with an explosive hitter.
When Roberts took the field, he planned to take the baseball from Kershaw. Closer Kenley Jansen was ready to attempt a sevenout save. Roberts expected resistance from his ace. He received certainty.
“We’ve got this guy,” Kershaw said. “I can get this guy.”
“Yeah?” Roberts
replied. He stared in Kershaw’s eyes. “Yeah.” The matter was settled. The outcome caused Kershaw’s heart to sink, if only for a moment, when Baez ripped a long drive into center field. In the aftermath of the 1-0 victory, the rest of the Dodgers defenders would insist they knew the ball would land in Joc Pederson’s glove. Only Kershaw admitted to the fear.
“I thought it was out, for sure,” Kershaw said.
He was wrong. Rather than a reprise of previous postseason heartache, Kershaw authored another chapter in his remarkable October. Pitching for the third time in six days, he evened this series with seven scoreless innings. Chicago managed two singles against him. No Cub advanced beyond second base.
Kershaw handed the game over to Jansen in the eighth inning. Jansen notched a six-out save, protecting a lead created by an Adrian Gonzalez home run in the second inning. The Dodgers revived themselves after Joe Blanton had allowed a backbreaking grand slam in Game 1. The revival started with Kershaw.
He did not give up a hit until the fifth. He did not reach a three-ball count until the sixth. And he survived the seventh inning, the setting for so much of his October heartbreak, overcoming a leadoff walk, an error by Grandal and Baez’s rocket.
Jansen referred to Kershaw as an inspiration. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt called the effort “gargantuan.” Roberts insisted these last two weeks have shredded any lingering questions about Kershaw’s ability to pitch in the playoffs.
“He’s the best pitcher on the planet,” Roberts said. “I’ll take him any day.”
In this postseason, the Dodgers basically have, even after Kershaw missed two months with a herniated disk. Kershaw logged 110 pitches last Tuesday in Game 4 of the division series against Washington. He needed seven pitches to collect the save in the first-round clincher Thursday. He threw 84 more on Sunday.
The Dodgers handed Kershaw a lead in the second inning, when Gonzalez took Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks deep. The offense provided little else. Kershaw needed to make it last.
Kershaw showed no evidence of fatigue at the start. He ratcheted his fastball up to 95 mph. He pounded the heater inside, handcuffing his hosts and inducing weak contact.
A Cub reached base in the fifth. After a pair of hard outs, Baez singled. Kershaw gave up another single to the next batter, catcher Willson Contreras. The two hits animated the sleepy crowd. But the fans went back to sitting on their hands when Kershaw got outfielder Jason Heyward to pop up for the third out.
The seventh inning was the proving ground. Kershaw tossed a pair of balls to first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Jansen hopped up and started to warm. Rizzo walked on four pitches. Up came outfielder Ben Zobrist, who had slashed a pair of line-drive outs in his first two at-bats. Only now he sent a popup soaring behind the plate. Disaster struck. Grandal got turned around as he searched for the baseball. He settled underneath it in time, but became confused when first baseman Gonzalez drifted into his line of vision. The catcher’s glove rose too late. The baseball fell off it and hit the ground, and Kershaw doubled over in shock.
It was a reminder of all the misfortune Kershaw has experienced in the seventh inning of postseasons past: The hanging curveball to Matt Adams in 2014 . . . the threerun double by Matt Carpenter in St. Louis’ eight-run uprising earlier in that series . . . David Wright’s go-ahead single off Pedro Baez in 2015 . . . his bullpen’s meltdown against the Nationals only five days earlier.
Only Kershaw would not crumble. Two pitches later, he buzzed an 0-2 fastball down the middle. Zobrist stared at strike three – “thankfully,” Kershaw said. Kershaw got shortstop Addison Russell to fly out. Then Roberts came to the mound, and went back without making a move.
On the verge of escape, Kershaw hoped to catch the corner of the zone with a 94-mph fastball. Instead he caught Baez’s bat. The crowd erupted upon contact. Pederson retreated to the track, and the ball nestled into his glove.
Hunched at the waist, Kershaw raised himself up and exhaled. He allowed himself a grin as he left the diamond. In the dugout, Roberts cackled as if these past few weeks had driven him bonkers. Perhaps they have. But they have also erased the discussion about Kershaw in October.
“I know he’s tired of hearing it,” Roberts said. “It’s unfair. For us, we don’t care. What this guy’s done is dig deep. I can’t say enough about Clayton Kershaw.”