Clayton Kershaw’s eleven strikeouts help Los Angeles Dodgers edge past Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3: MLB Update
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ starter, Clayton Kershaw had an outstanding day with the ball, as the pitcher tossed seven shutout innings in the Club’s 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, May 13. The Dodgers have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-game,
being played at the Dodgers Stadium
Kershaw, making his eighth start of the season, managed a season-high eleven strikeouts, allowed two walks and three hits over seven innings to earn his team their nineteenth triumph of the season.
On the other hand, the D-backs’ starter, Joe Saunders remained unsuccessful to earn his first win of the season. Saunders was close to getting what he set out to achieve, but the Dodgers’ Rod Barajas shattered Saunders’ hopes by launching a one-run homer
in the fifth inning, to provide his team with a 1-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Kershaw was pleased with his contribution which saw his team draw first blood in the three-game series.
He said while speaking to reporters, “Rod and I were on a good page. I do not think I shook him off at all. I'm glad I didn't give up any runs in those first three innings to give our team a chance.”
Barajas also appreciated Kershaw’s performance with the ball, “When he's throwing strike one, strike two, it's going to be a long night for whoever is facing him. Being able to have both of those pitches be outstanding helped him tremendously.”
The homer broke Saunders’ momentum and then he gave away one run each in the sixth and the seventh inning before the skipper, Kirk Gibson, relplaced him with Joe Paterson. However, the move did not work as Paterson gave away an RBI single on his first pitch
of the game.
The Dodgers were leading 4-0 until the eighth inning when Xavier Nady hit the D-backs' first run to trim the lead by one run. Then in the ninth inning, Miguel Montero touched an RBI double, shortening the lead to 3-4. However, other batters remained scoreless
and could not generate another run to tie the game.
Saunders gave away four runs on six hits, walked four and made two strikeouts over six and 2/3 innings to bear his fifth loss of the season. Paterson and Esmerling Vasquez both allowed one hit each over less than an inning while closer Juan Gutierrez did
not gave away hit over one inning.
The Dodgers’ reliever, Matt Guerrier allowed one run over one inning, Vicente Padilla yielded two runs over 2/3 innings while Kenley Jansen remained scoreless over 1/3 innings.
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