Kershaw pitches Dodgers past Strasburg, Nationals
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw made it sound as if he had a rough day. It looked pretty good to everyone else.
Kershaw outdueled Stephen Strasburg with seven effective innings and Yasmani Grandal hit a tiebreaking RBI double, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers edge the Washington Nationals 2-1 on Wednesday.
Kershaw (8-2) allowed three hits and struck out nine in his first win since May 17. Pedro Baez got two outs before Kenley Jansen finished for his 10th save.
But Kershaw also walked three and said he was not particularly sharp.
“I didn’t have much today in the tank,” he said. “I felt fine, it just wasn’t coming out quite the way I wanted to today. I felt like I threw a lot of off-speed pitches. That’s good lineup, too. They have a really good team over there. I’m fortunate to get a win.”
Strasburg (7-2) struck out eight in six innings in his first loss since April 29. The ace right-hander was 5-0 with a 2.75 ERA in his previous six starts.
Ryan Zimmerman hit his 17th homer for Washington in the second, and Strasburg sailed into the sixth inning before running into trouble.
“I don’t think we were giving at-bats away,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think Stephen was good today. He elevated his game.”
Roberts said one of Kershaw’s biggest contributions came at the plate when he forced Strasburg to throw nine pitches before grounding out in the sixth. Chris Taylor followed with another eight-pitch at-bat that ended with another groundout.
“That was huge,” Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager said. “(Kershaw) got his pitch count up a little bit and then (Taylor) did the same thing. It’s hard to throw when you have those long innings like that. Eventually you’ll make a mistake.”
Seager connected on one, hitting a drive to center for his eighth homer. Strasburg came back to strike out Adrian Gonzalez, but strike three got by catcher Jose Lobaton and Gonzalez reached on the passed ball.
After Gonzalez advanced on a wild pitch, Grandal lined a double past diving left fielder Ryan Raburn for a 2-1 lead.
said. “It made sense.”
Interleague Rockies 8, Indians 1
DENVER — Kyle Freeland was in command on the mound. Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon took care of the rest.
Freeland pitched 6 1/3 effective innings, Arenado drove in three runs and the Colorado Rockies beat the Cleveland Indians for their fourth straight win.
Blackmon, the reigning National League Player of the Month, added two RBIs for the Rockies, who lead the NL with 38 wins. Ian Desmond had three hits and scored two
runs.
Freeland (7-3) allowed one run and six hits, struck out
five and walked none while lowering his ERA to 3.34. The Denver native walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the Coors Field crowd. Cleveland right-hander Trevor Bauer (5-5), pitching on two days’ rest, allowed four runs and tied his season high with five walks in 3 1/3 innings. He threw just 30 pitches Sunday against Kansas City before rain halted the game and ended his appearance.
Bauer walked three in the third and Arenado hit a tworun double. Blackmon added another bases-loaded double in the fourth, lifting Colorado to a 4-0 lead.
“Got myself in trouble by walking people,” the 26-yearold Bauer said. “When I got in
jams I feel like I executed pitches to try and get out of them and did the best I could to minimize the damage. The ball didn’t go to people today. I don’t know why.”