His night finished, his part done,
Bellinger allowed the team to exhale when he smashed a curveball from Colorado left-hander
"Good player," Kershaw said. "A lefty-lefty curveball is pretty impressive."
The offense handed Kershaw a sizable advantage in the second inning. Kershaw kept the
Kershaw (6-2, 2.43 ERA) became the first pitcher to win 20 games at Coors Field. He passed Randy Johnson for that distinction. The honor did not shake Kershaw's dissatisfaction with his performance.
"The box score probably doesn't tell the whole story," he said. "There was a lot of bad pitching."
The outing fit the theme of Kershaw’s season. He continues to search for command of his slider — “I still don’t think he has his best slider,” third baseman
Manager
The Dodgers hung five runs on Rockies starter
After a botched squeeze attempt, in which Kershaw bunted the ball back to Chatwood and Utley got thrown out at the plate,
"Oh my God, it went through my legs," Seager said. "Dude, that was so scary."
Standing on the top step, Utley pointed toward the outfield, as if to say, "No, hit it that way." Pederson listened. He smashed the next pitch he saw, a belt-high cutter, for an RBI double. Seager followed that by slicing a two-run double into the left-field corner.
Kershaw absorbed some punishment in the third inning. Blackmon roped a curveball for a one-out triple. He scored on a single in the next at-bat by second baseman DJ LeMahieu.
The Rockies did not let Kershaw rest. A leadoff walk by Colorado first baseman
The trouble compounded when Seager flubbed a grounder. A wild pitch by Kershaw did not appear to help matters — but the Dodgers benefited from a quirk of replay review. When Kershaw spiked a slider, Rockies shortstop Pat Valaika ran to second base. He beat a throw from Yasmani Grandal, but Taylor held the tag as Valaika slid through the base. For a split-second, Valaika left the bag. Relay confirmed the crucial out, and Kershaw got another groundout to strand a runner at third.
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