Kershaw brings Dodgers to home stretch
ARLINGTON, Texas – Clayton Kershaw’s glittering career lacked two of the most satisfying accomplishments: a win deep in the World Series and a championship ring.
He took the mound Sunday night with the Los Angeles Dodgers shaken, and Kershaw steadied his team with a gritty performance, plus one particular delivery home that will long be remembered.
Now with one more victory, the Dodgers would claim their first title since 1988.
Kershaw beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the second time in six days, escaping a fourth-inning jam with a quick reaction throw to cut down Manuel Margot trying for a rare steal of home,
and the Dodgers held on for a 4-2 win and a 3-2 Series lead.
“Well, it’s happened to me before, at least one other time that I can remember,” Kershaw said. “Carlos Gomez tried it against me in Houston one time. You know, I work on that with the first basemen.”
Max Muncy, looking on from first, was ready.
“I was fortunate enough to see one or two guys
feet and make bogey.
Cantlay, in the group ahead of Thomas and Rahm, didn’t realize he had a three-shot lead and went after another birdie with a wedge to the par-5 16th, pulling it slightly into a tree and leading to his second bogey of the round.
Thomas drilled a drive and was in perfect position with a 4-iron. But he sent that out to the right, trying to avoid a shot left of the green, and it bounced off a tree and into the creek.
“Pathetic,” Thomas said as he watched it sail to the right. “So afraid to hit it left.”
After the penalty drop, he had to play a marvelous pitch-and-run off hard pan to get up-and-down for par.
But he needed birdies, and that didn’t come for Thomas until he needed to hole out from the 18th fairway for eagle. His approach landed 4 feet next to the hole for birdie and a 69. It was his first birdie since
the sixth hole.
“You could say a lot of things — making one birdie my last 12 holes, shooting even par on the back nine, playing the par 5s 1 under,” Thomas said. “But I know I made a lot of really key putts when I felt like I needed to. But again, it just (stinks) when you’re right there and you don’t get it done.”
His last birdie denied Rahm a small consolation. Rahm needed to finish second alone to return to No. 1 in the world. Dustin Johnson, a Sherwood member who missed this week recovering from a positive coronavirus test, remains No. 1.
Cantlay moved back into the top 10. He has no weakness in his game except for the victory tally. Cantlay had gone more than a year since his last victory, when he rallied from three behind at Muirfield Village to win the Memorial. His other win was in Las Vegas in 2017 when he came from four shots back and won in a playoff.
Cantlay finished at 23-under 265. No one else was within four shots of him.
The other show at Sher
wood was on the opposite side of the course, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing together in the final round with no fans.
There was nothing to see, anyway.
Woods closed with a 74 and still beat Mickelson by four shots. Mickelson, com
ing off a victory last week on the PGA Tour Champions, had five 6s on his card. Both finished out of the top 70 against a 78-man field.