Dodger talk is Cy, Cy again after Clayton Kershaw shuts down Rockies

Among the Dodgers, the question elicits more waffling than a presidential debate.

Kershaw or Greinke?

The latest chapter in a Cy Young race neither Zack Greinke nor Clayton Kershaw seems to care about ended ambiguously, again. A day after eight shutout innings by Greinke, Kershaw gave up one run in seven innings Monday in a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

For now, Greinke may be the favorite, thanks to his 1.61 earned-run average and 17 wins. But Kershaw’s season may be more technically impressive, according to advanced statistics. The three-time Cy Young winner leads the majors with 7.3 wins above replacement. Greinke (5.6) is sixth. Kershaw also leads in fielder-independent pitching and strikeouts.

The rest of the Dodgers offer little clarity on the matter.

In response to Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon, who said he’d vote for his own Jake Arrieta, Manager Don Mattingly said this weekend, “If I had two votes, I’d vote for Greinke and Kershaw.”

If he had one?

“I don’t have a vote,” he said.

Yasmani Grandal has caught both pitchers. In his eyes, “One leads the world in strikeouts, and the other leads the world in ERA,” so, he said, the debate “comes down to who’s been the most dominating pitcher in baseball.”

And who would that be?

“You can’t really choose,” Grandal said. “They’ve both been dominating. One dominates one way, the other dominates the other way. There’s not really one guy that you say, well, this guy’s been better than this guy overall.”

Both pitchers have said the race does not matter to them. On Sunday, Greinke said he finds the debate boring.

On Monday, Kershaw said the Cy Young is “not my main concern. I don’t think Zack has too much to worry about though.”

Mattingly tried to separate the pair’s starts, but circumstances pulled them back together. And so the Cy Young race has played out on consecutive days, more often than not an alternating mix of shutout and one-run performances.

It is a rarity in baseball history. If they hold off Arrieta’s insurgent bid, and finish first and second, they’d be the fourth pair of teammates to do so.

This trip around the rotation, the pair combined for 15 innings, one earned run and two wins. Monday, after Kershaw gave up a run-scoring groundout in the first inning, the Dodgers used a sacrifice fly by Grandal in the second inning, then a run-scoring double by Justin Turner in the fifth to take the lead. With closer Kenley Jansen unavailable, Scott Schebler provided some cushion with a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Kershaw struck out a mere five batters. He was missing an edge. And he still delivered another overpowering, efficient performance.

He went seven innings and gave up three hits. He didn’t allow a runner into scoring position from the second inning on.

With 19 games remaining, the win kept the Dodgers one-half game ahead of the New York Mets, their likely divisional-round opponent, and 71/2 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West.

The Dodgers will not admit so much until the division is clinched, but the biggest drama left is the Cy Young race.

Was anyone willing to give an honest appraisal?

“Both of them deserve it,” left-hander Brett Anderson said. “It depends on what school of thought you are. Old school, ERA wins. Or new school with the strikeouts and the FIP [fielder-independent pitching] and the whole thing.”

But then, at last, an answer.

“But just straight run prevention, not allowing runs to cross the plate, I’d have to give the edge to Zack,” he said.

That was before another dominant Kershaw start. After? That’s anyone’s guess.

Up next

Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson (9-8, 3.36 ERA) will face Rockies’ left-hander Chris Rusin (5-8, 5.14) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. TV: SportsNet LA; Radio: 570, 1020.

zach.helfand@latimes.com