Recap: Clayton Kershaw Tosses Complete Game, Dodgers Clinch NL West
With Bumgarner’s pitch count already high, Kershaw fouled off several pitches during a fifth-inning at-bat that although ended in a groundout on Bumgarner’s 13th offering, put a dent in the prospect of him pitching deep into the game. Bumgarner was then let down by Brandon Crawford, who’s throwing error allowed Hernandez to reach and the inning to extend.
Kendrick lined a base hit to right field, but Gonzalez continued to slump as he popped out to end the inning. Kershaw meanwhile breezed through the bottom of the fifth by striking out the side.
Bumgarner was back out on the mound for the sixth and retired the first two batters faced before getting chased from the game. Ruggiano added to his lore of being a lefty killer by hitting a solo home run, which was followed by Ellis extending the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0 on Bumgarner’s next pitch.
The Giants failed to get anything going in the sixth as Kershaw struck out the side for the second consecutive inning. Matt Duffy made sure Kershaw would do it a third straight inning, though he still was retired on the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh.
Kershaw then proceeded to retire the next two batters, including striking out Marlon Byrd to end the inning. Gonzalez dropped a flare single into left field in the eighth and later took second base on Jeremy Affeldt’s wild pitch. Back-to-back base hits from Turner and Seager led to Gonzalez scoring.
Seager’s RBI single extended his streak of reaching safely to 21 consecutive starts. The Giants went to Mike Broadway as the next reliever, which Dodgers manager Don Mattingly countered by sending Andre Ethier to pinch-hit for Ruggiano. Ethier cleared the bases with a two-run triple, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 7-0.
Ellis added an RBI single, which was more than enough for Kershaw. All the reigning National League MVP did in the bottom of the eighth was strikeout the side to give him 12 strikeouts in the game.
Kershaw retired the side in the ninth, adding one more strikeout along the way, to wrap up his complete-game, one-hit shutout effort and give the Dodgers a division title.
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