Clayton Kershaw saved the Los Angeles Dodgers season on Tuesday night, and hopefully also silenced the misperception that he’s not a good postseason pitcher.
Starting on three days’ rest, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner (with a strong chance to win the honors for a third consecutive year, and four of the past five seasons) spoiled hopes for a celebration at Citi Field by handcuffing the Mets in a 3-1 Dodgers victory. That forces the NLDS to a decisive Game 5 at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.
Kershaw pitched seven innings, allowing one run and three hits with seven strikeouts. Though Daniel Murphy hit a solo home run off him in the fourth inning, the Mets never really felt like they mounted a serious threat. Even in the fifth inning after Juan Lagares reached base on a single, Kershaw struck out pinch-hitter Michael Cuddyer on four pitches.
But the adversary that Kershaw still had to defeat was pitching through the seventh inning, which is where he broke down in his past three postseason starts. It looked like that narrative might live on when Yoenis Cespedes led off the seventh with a chopper down the third-base line that Kershaw couldn’t field cleanly. But the left-hander easily doused that threat, retiring the next three batters on only six pitches.
The only thing that could neutralize Kershaw on Tuesday night was Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who took his starter out of the game after seven innings. Yes, Kershaw was pitching on short rest but had thrown 94 pitches to that point and was in complete control. Factor in that the Mets had the eighth and ninth spots in the lineup batting, and even with pinch-hitters being used, it seemed like Kershaw could have continued to pitch.
But perhaps Mattingly felt like Kershaw had beaten his postseason hex and better not to tempt fate by pitching one more inning. Maybe he felt like Chris Hatcher could handle the bottom of the Mets’ batting order too.
Well… that decision suddenly looked very shaky when Hatcher walked Curtis Granderson on five pitches, bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs. That compelled Mattingly to bring in closer Kenley Jansen to get out of the eighth and pitch a likely four-out save. Not a bad strategy for the manager. Hey, he’s not stubbornly sticking to “I only pitch my closer in the ninth inning” doctrine. Except Mattingly was asking Jansen to do something he doesn’t normally do.
Kenley Jansen has never recorded a save of 4 outs or more in the postseason.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 14, 2015
In fact, Kenley Jansen has pitched more than one inning in a game only once this season — Aug. 16 vs. the Reds, when he recorded save. — Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 14, 2015
What could go wrong? Mattingly began the inning by trying not to push his luck and ended it by trying to push his luck. All righty then. But with Kershaw already out of the game, he really had no choice but to use his best reliever.
Yet when Granderson easily stole second base and David Wright fought out an eight-pitch walk (which included a check swing that Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis argued was a foul tip and strike three), bringing Murphy to the plate, not pitching Kershaw in the eighth looked like a potentially fatal decision for the Dodgers.
Murphy worked the count to three balls and two strikes, but eventually flied out to right fielder Yasiel Puig, killing the Mets’ best chance at a rally. That provide Jansen with the chance to reset himself and pitch in the situation to which he’s normally accustomed: beginning the ninth inning with no runners on base. Given new life, the Dodgers closer blew away the Mets in the ninth inning, striking out Cespedes and Travis d’Arnaud, and closing out the game by getting Lucas Duda to fly out to center field. All in just 10 pitches.
With that, the NLDS goes to a Game 5 on Thursday, becoming the third Division Series this postseason to go to decisive finale. Zack Greinke will pitch for the Dodgers on their home field, with Jacob deGrom taking the mound for the Mets. deGrom won the series opener with a dominant 13-strikeout performance, allowing five hits over eight scoreless innings. Greinke won Game 2, allowing two runs and five hits with eight strikeouts over seven innings.
First pitch is set for 8:07 p.m. ET from Dodger Stadium. The game will be telecast on TBS.