Dodgers beat the Rockies, 14-1, but remain one game away from clinching NL West
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw pitches against the Rockies during the fourth inning of a game on Sept. 24.
Dodger Stadium’s National League scoreboard, along its right-field wall between digital and analog advertisements, is within Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts’ normal field of vision from his perch atop the home dugout.
So Roberts wasn’t saying much when he said Saturday that he would keep one eye on the score between San Diego and San Francisco while Clayton Kershaw faced Colorado directly in front of him.
But that eye was entertained, as the foreground and background presented diverging results. While San Francisco ran out to an early lead, then slowly ceded it to San Diego, Kershaw and the Dodgers ravaged the Rockies from the start in a 14-1 victory Saturday.
They then waited to watch the Giants beat the Padres in 10 innings. San Francisco’s victory meant the Dodgers could not clinch their fourth consecutive NL West title for at least one more day, but the unfolding events 120 miles south added suspense to the comedy at Dodger Stadium.
“They gave us a lot of hope there for a little bit,” Kershaw said.
When the Dodgers had the bases loaded without an out in the second inning, Joc Pederson sneaked a single through to right field. That drove in two runs, and they scored two more after Kershaw bunted, Chase Utley walked, Corey Seager grounded into a forceout and Justin Turner singled.
The onslaught continued unfettered in the fourth, aided along by another run-scoring single from Turner and an error in left field by Ryan Raburn, who dropped a routine fly. The Dodgers added runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, the latter rally punctuated by a Josh Reddick grand slam.
“It would’ve been fun to watch them lose tonight,” Reddick said of the Giants. “But we’d rather do it on our own tomorrow.”
Early, Kershaw set down with ease the Rockies, flashing a fastball up to 95 mph and command of both his breaking balls. Colorado repeatedly pounded the ball into the infield, in a performance reminiscent of his no-hitter here 27 months ago.
With one out in the third, catcher Tony Wolters dribbled a baseball to Utley, who quickly gloved it and threw, in one motion, to first base. At first Wolters was ruled safe, but the Dodgers challenged. The crowd cheered when the replay broadcast on the video boards showed Adrian Gonzalez snapping his glove closed in time.
The Dodgers ace amassed two more quick outs to begin the fourth before Nolan Arenado rapped a ball bound for left field, in between Seager and Turner. Seager fielded it, but his throw to first was one second too late to record the out.
Kershaw gave up a double to Stephen Cardullo in the fifth inning but stranded him. He next allowed a baserunner in the seventh, his final frame, when Arenado singled up the middle. For his 91st and last pitch of the game, Kershaw dropped his arm angle down to strike out Gerardo Parra on a fastball, inspired by Rich Hill’s variant deliveries. When asked about the experimentation, he sought to leave open the possibility he’d do it again in a higher-stakes circumstance.
The 91 pitches were Kershaw’s most since June 20, before the herniated disk diagnosis that would call the Dodgers’ entire season into question. On Saturday, in his fourth start since his return, Kershaw lowered his earned-run average to 1.65, which would be a career-low mark over a full season. In 142 innings, he has struck out 168 men and walked 10, an almost unprecedented demonstration of dominance over his peers.
In the months Kershaw missed, as the Giants’ division lead stretched to 61/2 games, the Dodgers winning a division title was considered improbable. And approaching it in this fashion, with so many days to spare, was about impossible.
The Dodgers kept pace with Washington in the chase for home-field advantage in the teams’ near-certain first-round matchup. They trail the Nationals by one game. If they are tied at season’s end, the Dodgers will own the advantage and host Games 1 and 2 of a division series Oct. 7 and 8.
The Nationals clinched their division title Saturday night because of their victory and the New York Mets’ loss. If Washington retains its slim lead in the other race, the Dodgers are assured only of hosting Game 3, on Oct. 10.
But that was not Roberts’ concern Saturday.
“We have three games at home, or we have two games at home,” he said. “We want some finality to this division.”
Follow Pedro Moura on Twitter @pedromoura
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