Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Ace isn’t a full-time job
Even top starters are exiting games earlier than ever
BOSTON — Aces were out early in the World Series, where four-plus innings for starters is becoming the new norm.
The outings of the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and Red Sox starter Chris Sale turned into short stories. Each failed to get an out in the fifth inning Tuesday night in Game 1, just the fourth time both starting pitchers were chased that early in a Series opener.
They were long gone by the time the Red Sox finished their 8-4 win in what became a predictable postseason battle of bullpens.
“I say it all the time, and I say it to my son, I’ve never seen an ugly win,” Sale said. “Obviously, the stat line isn’t the prettiest thing. It’s not exactly how you draw it up or dream about it, but we got a win, so I’m good to go.”
For a century, aces were baseball’s studs, grabbing the mound for Game 1 as if by birthright and not letting go. Think Bob Gibson 50 years ago, pitching a five-hit shutout for the Cardinals against the Tigers with 17 strikeouts and one walk.
But no pitcher has thrown a complete game in the opener since the Phillies’ Cliff Lee beat the Yankees in 2009. The last complete-game shutout in Game 1 was thrown by the Athletics’ Dave Stewart against the Giants in 1989.
Complete-game shutouts have gone the way of flannel uniforms and spittoons, the sport transforming at its most rapid pace since the live-ball era began nearly a century ago.
The first meeting of seven-time All-Stars in a World Series opener was far from a pitcher’s duel. Sale lasted 91 pitches and Kershaw 79.
The Red Sox used six relievers and the Dodgers four. Matt Barnes followed Sale, threw just 14 pitches and gave up the tying run but wound up with the victory because the Red Sox went back ahead in the bottom of the fifth.
“Both teams have the ability to work pitch counts and get pitch counts higher, so you’re going to have to go to the pen and play matchups,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Kershaw dropped to 9-9 in postseason play. He allowed five runs, seven hits and three walks. Andrew Benintendi became just the second left-handed hitter to go 3-for-3 in a game against the three-time Cy Young Award winner, after then-Marlin Christian Yelich on June 27, 2015.
“I didn’t pitch very well,” Kershaw said. “The slider wasn’t very good tonight . ... Kind of flat in the zone and they made me pay for it.”
Sale fared little better, giving up three runs, five hits and two walks against the first batting order in Series history that included nine right-handed hitters.
It was the 26th Series game in which both starters failed to get an out in the fifth and the second in a row after the Dodgers’ Yu Darvish exited in the second in Game 7 last year and the Astros’ Lance McCullers Jr. departed in the third.