Clayton Kershaw made his last appearance before the All-Star Break, and has put together a pretty good case to be the National League starter in Minnesota for the game itself. Kershaw’s utter brilliance continues, dominating the San Diego Padres in his complete game win, improving to 11-2 in the 2-1 win.
Kershaw struck out eleven batters, giving up three hits and one run. Kershaw’s scoreless inning streak was snapped at 41 after allowing a solo home run to Chase Headley in the sixth inning. Kershaw ranks third in Dodger history after the scoreless stretch, sitting behind Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser who threw 58 and 59 consecutive scoreless innings.
During the scoreless streak from Kershaw, the Spurs won the NBA Finals, the Kings won the Stanley Cup, and Team USA advanced from the Group of Death. Vin Scully described the scene after the homer was allowed as only the legendary Scully could. He said, “Get the string out, add another pearl, he has now gone 41 consecutive scoreless innings.” After his eleventh and final strikeout of the night, Kershaw walked off the field to MVP chants and a very appreciate crowd at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw won his eighth straight start tonight, and improves to 11-2 with an overall season ERA of 1.78. Kershaw has struck out 126 compared to 13 walks in 96.1 innings pitched. Even more impressive have been his numbers in the last month plus. Since June 2nd, Kershaw is 8-0 with a 0.74 ERA, 80 strikeouts, and 6 walks.
The first run for Los Angeles was put on the board in the fourth inning with a floating single from Scott Van Slyke. Yasiel Puig began the fourth with a double and moved to third on a groundout from Adrian Gonzalez. Matt Kemp struck out before the Van Slyke RBI, and Juan Uribe flew out to end the inning. Van Slyke finished the evening 2-4 with an RBI. The Dodgers added the winning run in the sixth inning, beginning with a leadoff single from Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez stole second with Puig at the plate and advanced to third on a throwing error from the catcher. Gonzalez hit a long sacrifice fly to center field to move Ramirez across the plate. Ramirez finished the night 2-3 at the plate, looking good after some injury scares and trouble with the shoulder. Dee Gordon, Miguel Rojas, Puig, Gonzalez, and Kemp all added one hit to contribute to the nine Dodger hits. The boys in blue finished 2-13 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven runners on base. That didn’t matter tonight behind the dominant arm of the lefty ace in Kershaw.
The Dodgers improve to 51-42 and sit a game ahead of the San Francisco Giants. Dan Haren is set to take the mound for game two of the four game series.