Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Outing perplexes Kershaw, but Turner eases worries
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw still hasn’t figured out how to dominate in October. This time he couldn’t even keep the ball in the yard.
But Justin Turner and the Dodgers made sure it hardly mattered in a strong postseason opener.
Turner homered and drove in five runs, Kershaw won despite giving up four home runs and the Dodgers roared to a 9-5 victory over the Diamondbacks on Friday night in Game 1 of their NL Division Series.
Turner hit a three-run homer and Yasiel Puig added an RBI double before the Dodgers made their first out against starter Taijuan Walker, who lasted just one inning in his playoff debut. Turner added an RBI single in the fourth and another in the eighth to tie Pedro Guerrero and Davey Lopes for the franchise record for most RBIs in a postseason game.
With his teammates providing such a generous cushion, Kershaw could afford to allow the homers in the first victory of his checkered postseason career at Dodger Stadium. He improved to 5-7 in the playoffs.
“Yeah, he gave up four solo homers, but who cares?” asked Turner, batting .397 with 17 RBIs in his last 17 postseason games. “When you have a lead like that, it’s about attacking guys, not giving up free bases and pounding the zone. So I thought he was spectacular for us.”
Kershaw yielded backto-back homers into the short left-field porch by light-hitting Ketel Marte and Jeff Mathis on his final two pitches in the seventh, making him the first pitcher in team history and Game 1: Dodgers 9, Diamondbacks 5 Game 2: D’backs at Dodgers, late Game 3: at Diamondbacks 10 p.m. Monday, TBS *Game 4: at Diamondbacks 9 p.m. Tuesday, TBS *Game 5: at Dodgers 9 p.m. Thursday, TBS the eighth in baseball history to give up four home runs in a postseason game.
The lead was down to 7-4 when the three-time Cy Young Award winner left, but the suspense didn’t last. Turner and the 104-win Dodgers added two more runs in the eighth, capping a 12-hit performance.
“It just wasn’t coming out as good as I would have liked it to that last inning,” said Kershaw, who gave up five hits in 61⁄3 innings. “I just didn’t have much left. I don’t know. Hopefully, when you give up hits, maybe one or two would stay in the ballpark, but tonight it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. Obviously a frustrating way to end it, but thankfully we had a big lead.”
Game 2 was Saturday night, with Rich Hill facing the Diamondbacks’ Robbie Ray in a matchup of lefties.
Ray was supposed to start the series opener but was pressed into relief in the wild-card game Wednesday against the Rockies when ace Zack Greinke faltered. Walker couldn’t come through in his place against the Dodgers.
“I just felt like they had a really good game plan against me,” Walker said. “They were sitting on the fastball most of the time.”
Kershaw struck out seven, but the left-hander’s frequent inability to match his regular-season brilliance in October remains a constant presence. He struggled with the home run again after giving up a career-high 23 homers in the regular season, but he still earned his fifth career postseason victory — one shy of the franchise record — in 15 starts.