Kershaw’s nightmare in the playoffs continues
Arlington, Texas — Clayton Kershaw made the slow trudge to that lonely spot in the dugout once again, this time just a few miles from his hometown.
The longtime ace of the Dodgers just can't shake his playoff curse, not even on friendly turf in a neutral-site NL Championship Series.
Kershaw faltered at the start of the sixth inning against Atlanta, allowing three straight hits before watching the rest of a six-run outburst in the Braves' 10-2 win in Game 4 on Thursday night.
Kershaw's franchise-high 12th postseason loss put Los Angeles down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series at the home of the Texas Rangers, on the brink of a second straight defeat in the NLCS after posting the best record in the majors during the pandemic-shortened season.
Pitching two days after he was scratched from a Game 2 start because of back spasms, Kershaw allowed four runs in five-plus innings, boosting his career playoff ERA to 4.31.
While the three- time NL Cy Young Award winner is also the club's career leader in postseason wins with his 1112 record, his October resume simply doesn't match his stellar regular-season numbers: 175-76 with a 2.43 ERA.
In LA's seven trips to the NLCS over Kershaw's 13 seasons, the Dallas native is 3-6 with a 4.84 ERA. And now the lefthander has been outpitched by a rookie making his postseason debut: Atlanta's 22-year-old Game 4 winner, Bryse Wilson.
“I think that he came out and five innings, one run, again, what happened right there in that sixth inning, he gave us a chance to win the baseball game,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We couldn't put any runs up early and get a lead, or hold a lead. That narrative couldn't be further from the truth.”
Kershaw was handed a 1-0 lead on Edwin Ríos' homer in the third, but gave it up on Marcell Ozuna's solo shot in the fourth, the first of two for Ozuna.
In the sixth, Ronald Acuña Jr.'s high chopper eluded the glove of a leaping Kershaw behind the mound for an infield single. Freddie Freeman and Ozuna followed with consecutive RBI doubles, and Kershaw was done in Los Angeles' third loss in four games since winning its first five in the playoffs.
“It would have been nice to get Acuna out,” Kershaw said. “Just part of playing on turf. He kind of chopped that one up. Freddie, I had two strikes on him. Probably just went one too many pitches inside.”