Dodgers dominate World Series opener
Bellinger delivers power at the plate, Kershaw gets first Fall Classic win
Cody Bellinger's shoulder is all right.
And Clayton Kershaw's arm is just fine …
Thank you very much. With their limbs intact and pumping out the power, the two biggest stars on the World Series stage carried the Los Angeles Dodgers to a Game 1 victory Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Kershaw put to bed the bugaboos of a shaky pitching history in the Major League Baseball playoffs, while Bellinger continued the hitting heroics he rediscovered in the National League Championship Series as the Dodgers drew first blood with a decisive 8-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in the best-ofseven championship opener.
Bellinger's health was in question after an elbow-bash with Kiki Hernandez to celebrate his clutch home run in the NLCS dislocated his shoulder.
But after having it popped back in place, he showed no ill effects on Tuesday as he shot the Dodgers into the lead with a two-run blast in the fourth inning. For good measure, he made sure to celebrate by toe-tapping with teammates after rounding the bases.
Meanwhile, Kershaw's ugly earned-run average in post-season play was a hot topic leading up to Game 1.
He came in with the highest earned-run average in MLB playoff lore for hurlers having pitched a minimum of 100 innings (4.31). He has started more playoff games (28) than any other pitcher without a World Series win to his name. And he came into Tuesday's contest with the fourth-worst ERA (5.40) of pitchers sporting at least 25 innings of World Series action. But his manager, Dave Roberts, told reporters it's “obviously the biggest of no-brainers to have him start Game 1 — something he's done before just makes us feel that much better about it.”
And his teammates backed him, too.
“He just does everything right,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts told reporters. “He game plans and goes about the game the right way. Great leader on the mound — takes control of everything.”
He had this one in control until a Kevin Kiermaier solo shot in the fifth inning cut into a 2-0 deficit.
But then his teammates put up another four runs in the bottom of the inning — on a Max Muncy fielder's choice that brought home Betts and a Will Smith single to score Corey Seager.
The Dodgers' rally was set up by three stolen bases in the inning, which tied a World Series record dating back to 1912 when the New York Giants executed some nifty pilfering.
The first two runs of the inning and the trio of stolen bags spelled the end of the night for Rays starter Tyler Glasnow.
But reliever Ryan Yarbrough couldn't stop the bleeding, allowing another couple of runs to score on Taylor and Hernandez singles, still in the fifth.
And then Kershaw returned to continue his strong outing to finally get that elusive first World Series win.
“You have that (World Series) experience to draw on — just trying to learn from that as best you can,” Kershaw told reporters before the game. “At the same time, every year is different — the Rays are a different team from the Astros
and the Red Sox,” who they played respectively in the 2017 and '18 World Series.
While Kershaw kept up his end, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out eight over six innings, his teammates kept rounding the bases.
In the sixth, the Dodgers tacked on two more runs off Rays reliever Josh Fleming when Betts hit a solo shot and Muncy brought home Justin Turner with a double.
It was more than enough, even though the Rays tried to fight back against Dodgers relievers Dylan Floro and Victor Gonzalez, who surrendered two runs in the seventh on back-to-back Mike Brosseau and Kiermaier singles.
“Guys are hungry — guys know what's at stake,” Turner told Sportsnet before the game. “We've got a lot of guys who played in a couple of World Series now. They know you can't take anything for granted, and you've got to show up for every pitch and pay attention to details.”
EXTRA BASES
Dodgers first baseman Muncy took a ball in the face off a bad hop in warm-up before Tuesday's game. He was treated and returned to batting practice a few minutes later. … The Rays came into Game 1 batting only .209 as a team in the post-season. … It's expected that Blake Snell (2-2 record, 3.20 ERA in the 2020 post-season) will start for the Rays in Game 2, with the Dodgers turning to a bullpen day. … First pitch for today's Game 2 is scheduled for 5:08 p.m. PT (Fox/ Sportsnet).