‘Just bad pitching’: Kershaw pulled after sixrun first inning in Dodgers’ playoff loss
Texas, Houston, Philadelphia and Arizona are off to fast starts in their bestof-five Division Series.
In Los Angeles, Gabriel Moreno’s three-run homer highlighted a six-run first inning for Arizona against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, and the Diamondbacks rolled to an 11-2 victory in their NL Division Series opener. Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Tommy Pham also homered for Arizona. Pham had four of the Diamondbacks’ 13 hits.
Kershaw staggered through the worst start of his 16-year career. The three-time Cy Young Award winner got tagged for six runs and recorded just one out in the 100th postseason game at Dodger Stadium. The three-time Cy Young Award winner had never made a start in which he had pitched less than one inning. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts had expected Kershaw to throw about 85 pitches. Instead, he was gone after 35. It was the shortest start of his 16-year career, all with the Dodgers.
“Disappointing,” Kershaw said of his performance. “Embarrassing. You just feel like you let everybody down. The guys, a whole organization, that looked to you to pitch well in Game 1. It’s just embarrassing, really. So I just feel like I let everybody down. It’s a tough way to start the postseason. Obviously, we still have a chance at this thing, but that wasn’t the way it should’ve started for me.”
Kershaw said his performance was not affected by injury.
“I feel fine,” he said. “I feel fine. I just didn’t make enough good pitches, obviously, tonight. There’s nothing healthrelated here; just bad pitching.”
In Houston, another veteran had a much better night. Justin Verlander pitched six shutout innings, Yordan Alvarez homered twice and the defending
World Series champion Astros held on for a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins in their ALDS opener.
In Baltimore, Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning helped Texas reach the sixth inning with a lead, and the Rangers’ maligned bullpen held on through some anxious moments in a 3-2 win against the Orioles. Josh Jung homered and made a nice play at third base to start a critical double play for Texas, who improved to 3-0 in these playoffs – all on the road.
In Atlanta, Bryce Harper homered, Ranger Suárez and the Philadelphia bullpen stifled baseball’s most prolific offense, as the Phillies blanked the 104win Braves 3-0 in Game 1.
In a playoff rematch between division rivals, the East champion Braves find themselves in exactly the same position as a year ago: trailing the wildcard Phillies after the opener at Truist Park.
The Phillies went on to a 3-1 upset of the Braves in 2022 on an improbable run to the World Series. Now, they’re up again heading to Game 2 in the best-offive series Monday night in Atlanta.