Dodgers win Game 4
Utley delivers and sends the series back to D.C. for a deciding game
With L.A.’s 6-5 victory over the Nationals, the National League division series goes to a decisive Game 5 on Thursday in Washington.
The two men were separated by 35 paces, Corey Seager warming in the ondeck circle, Justin Turner crouching on the dugout steps. Together they shared one thought as Chase Utley stepped into the batter’s box in the eighth inning of Game 4 of the National League division series Tuesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
“That was the right guy to have up in that moment,” Turner said. “That’s exactly who we wanted.”
The Dodgers’ affinity for Utley defies statistical analysis. They hit him in the leadoff spot even though his bat has slowed. They start him at second base even though his range has shrunk and his arm has faded. They rely on Utley because in spots like this, they believe he will not blink.
He will not blink. He will not smile. He will not reveal a sliver of emotion, even after he did what he did Tuesday, raking the go-ahead RBI single off Washington re-
liever Blake Treinen to deliver his team a 6-5 victory and force a decisive Game 5 on Thursday at Nationals Park. His hit extended this Dodgers’ season for at least one more game, after a game that jangled nerves, destroyed fingernails and left Clayton Kershaw in a state of dazed exhaustion.
“If anyone gives up on this team, they haven’t seen us play a whole lot this year,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “And it starts with what Clayton did.”
The fatigue showed on the face of Kershaw. Asked to pitch on three days’ rest, he answered with 62⁄3 innings, leaving with the bases loaded but with his team ahead by three runs, the game in the hands of baseball’s most reliable bullpen during the regular season.
Then he watched in shock as the relievers crumbled behind him in a sequence that turned into a strategic misfire from Roberts. All three runners scored. Spooked again by October demons, Pedro Baez drilled Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth with the only pitch he threw. Daniel Murphy, the perpetual enemy of this club in October, tied the score with a two-run single off Luis Avilan.
As the lead disappeared, Kershaw sat inside the dugout in silence. He ran his fingers through his hair and stared at the ground. He could not shake the shock even after the eventual victory.
“I’m exhausted, for one, just physically and mentally drained,” Kershaw said. “But we get to live another day.”
That will be Thursday. In the tumult after the game, Rich Hill indicated he would start on short rest in Game 5. Andrew Friedman, the president of baseball operations, said the team had not officially decided. Max Scherzer will start Game 5 for Washington.
The Dodgers utilized their own ace Tuesday. Washington countered with 23-year-old starter Joe Ross. The matchup boded well for the Dodgers, even as Kershaw searched for his footing.
Murphy vexed the Dodgers all afternoon. He chopped an RBI single in the third and a sacrifice fly in the third. Through three, the game was tied at two. Adrian Gonzalez bashed a two-run homer off Ross on a letter-high fastball in the second inning.
Kershaw helped break the deadlock in the third. He doubled and scored on a single by Turner. Ross hit Joc Pederson with a slider when the bases were loaded to provide another run. Pederson upped the lead to three with an RBI double in the fifth.
Kershaw allowed a flurry of hard contact in the sixth. Roberts hoped for one more inning. Except slump-ridden shortstop Danny Espinosa led off with a single. Kershaw retired the next two batters. Trea Turner hit a grounder that Seager could not get out of his glove in time for a force at second.
Roberts went to the mound, where he spoke with Kershaw for only a moment. Kershaw and Harper dueled for eight pitches, with a 1-2 fastball nearly catching the outside corner and a 2-2 curveball nearly catching the inside corner. Umpire Tom Hallion called balls on both, and Harper eventually walked.
“He’s a really good hitter,” Kershaw said. “You don’t need to give him any more strikes.”
Kershaw was done. He had thrown 110 pitches, struck out 11 and aided the offense with his bat. But his teammates could not pick him up.
When the inning began, Baez was warming in the bullpen. Avilan soon joined him. Roberts opted for those two over Joe Blanton, his best right-handed reliever besides Kenley Jansen, and Grant Dayton, his best left-handed reliever. Dayton had pitched the previous two days. Blanton picked up five outs Monday.
So it was up to Baez. He hit Werth on his first pitch. A run scored. In came Avilan. Murphy poked a fastball into center to knot the score.
The last laugh belonged to the Dodgers. With two outs in the eighth, Treinen hit rookie Andrew Toles with a slider. Andre Ethier shot a 96-mph fastball through the left side of the infield for his first hit this postseason. Utley splashed a slider into the outfield grass to take the lead, unfazed by the 1-2 count or the pressure of the moment.
“You try to keep it simple and put a good at-bat together,” Utley said. “Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t. Today it did.”