Sizzling Clayton Kershaw pitches LA Dodgers to World Series lead
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scorching innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros in game one of the World Series yesterday. Backed by Justin Turner’s two-run home run and Chris Turner’s lead-off homer off Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, Kershaw steamrolled the vaunted Astros offense. The temperature at first pitch of 103˚ F (39˚ C) was a record for a Major League Baseball playoff game, and a fitting cauldron for the opening clash in the best-of-seven series between teams that each won more than 100 regular-season games. Kershaw set the tone by retiring the first three Astros batters. Then Dodgers centerfielder Taylor smacked a towering homer off the first pitch thrown by Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel to put Los Angeles up 1-0 It was only the fourth leadoff homer ever recorded in a World Series game one. Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young awardwinner, settled down to retire Turner, Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig and the duel between Kershaw and Keuchel was on. “I felt good,” Kershaw said. “It was hot tonight, so warming up, it didn’t take long to get loose. “CT getting that monkey off our back and getting that first run across the board was huge.” Three-time Cy Young award-winner Kershaw, making his first World series start, had faced just one batter over the minimum through the first three innings when Astros third baseman Alex Bregman broke through with a solo homer to lead off the fourth. Bregman pounced on a waist-high fastball and powered it over the left field fence, drawing a grimace from Kershaw, who promptly struck out the next three batters. It was the only hiccup for Kershaw, who surrendered three hits in seven innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts. That’s the most by a pitcher in the World Series since 2001 and was one shy of his own playoff record of 12. He threw 57 of his 83 pitches for strikes.
“I think (Houston) is a really good hitting team. They hit a lot of homers and don’t strike out. There’s little room for error,” Kershaw said. “So it’s important for me to establish pitches, be able to throw multiple things for strikes, and I’m thankful I was able to do that tonight.
“I made a few mistakes,” he added. “Obviously Bregman got me, then I threw one down the middle to (Carlos) Correa that he popped up — that could’ve gone a long way, too. For the most part, though, I’ll take it.”
‘PRETTY IMPRESSIVE’
Kershaw struck out five in the first three innings. He didn’t give up a hit until Josh Reddick singled in the third.
Bregman’s homer off him to lead off the fourth was the seventh that Kershaw has given up in these playoffs — but he struck out the next three batters.
“That was pretty impressive what he could do, throwing a ton of fastballs,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Kershaw. “He landed his breaking ball a little bit better than we’ve seen in the past. He’s tough. He showed it tonight by being in attack mode, being in the strike zone early and got us pretty defensive from the get-go.”
Keuchel delivered a solid performance himself. After giving up the first- pitch homer he retired 12 of the next 15 hitters he faced.
But after walking Taylor with two outs in the second he surrendered a two-run home run to Turner — the walkoff hero of the Dodgers’ game two win over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship series.
Turner’s four home runs in these playoffs are one shy of the Dodgers club record set by Davey Lopes in 1978.
Hinch lifted Keuchel with two outs in the seventh, after he gave up a deep single to Corey Seager.
“Keuchel was really good tonight,” Hinch said. “He was just a pitch or two less than Kershaw. He wasn’t as fancy with the punch-outs.”
Reliever Brad Peacock ended the danger, but the Astros couldn’t make a further dent.
Dodgers relief pitcher Brandon Morrow retired the side in the top of the eighth and closing pitcher Kenley Jansen set down three in the top of the ninth to send the crowd of 54,253 at Dodger Stadium into a frenzy.
The Dodgers will try to build on their 1-0 lead when they host game two on Wednesday.
They are in pursuit of a seventh franchise title, but their first since 1988 — the last time they reached the championship series.
The Astros are seeking a first World Series title, having been swept in their only prior appearance in 2005. —