Dodgers News: Kershaw Credits Team For Giving Him Lead To Pitch With
However, the rain subsided in time for the game to start as scheduled and it was then the Dodgers who showered the field with hits in the first inning. Collectively, the Dodgers hit for the cycle in the first and put up three runs on Jairr Jurrjens before Clayton Kershaw took the mound.
While much of the conversation was focused on Kershaw and his 36 consecutive scoreless innings, in a postgame interview on Time Warner Cable’s SportsNet LA, he credited the Dodgers for once again giving him a lead to pitch with:
You’ve got to give credit to our team. I feel like every time I’m pitching, I’ve got a big lead right now. So that’s awesome.”
As for adding to his scoreless streak, Kershaw took a simple-minded approach:
I mean it’s great. You don’t want to ever give up a run, so I guess that’s the goal.
As it turns out, the Dodgers wouldn’t have needed more than one run as Kershaw shutout the Colorado Rockies for the second time this season. In a third start against the Rockies this year, the left-hander allowed just one run in a game that got called after five and a half innings.
In Kershaw’s no-hitter, the Dodgers scored two runs in the first inning and erupted for a five-run third, which led to the left-hander later stating he simply didn’t want to blow the lead the team had given him.
Friday’s win was Kershaw’s 10th of the season, which is second on the team behind Zack Greinke’s 11 wins. The lefty also lowered his ERA to 1.85 and he is 1.2 innings from being placed among the group of qualifying pitchers. If qualified, Kershaw’s ERA would rank first in MLB.
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