Clayton Kershaw’s pitching helps Los Angeles Dodgers defeat San Francisco Giants 2-1 - MLB Update
Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitcher, Clayton Kershaw had a tremendous day with the ball as he threw just over seven innings and struck-out six batters with an ERA of 2.27 in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
on September 20.
Dodgers got a 1-0 lead in the first inning when James Loney hit a single-run drive to centre-field and Matt Kemp added the first run for the Dodgers. Juan Rivera advanced to second base to end the first inning. Jerry Sands struck a solo homer towards left-field
to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead at the bottom of the second inning.
The batters were dominated over by the pitchers from the third to seventh inning. Loney doubled to deep left-centre at the bottom of third inning but Aaron Miles and Rivera both ground out to first and second base respectively. Similarly, Carlos Beltran
gave some momentum to the Giants by hitting a single-run shot to left-field but Jeff Keppinger ground out to the pitcher while Mark DeRosa and Brett Pill both flied out without adding any run during the fourth inning.
At the top of the fifth, Chris Stewart singled off left-field and Justin Christian reached towards short-stop on an infield single but Orlando Cabrera ground out to pitcher and Tim Lincecum struck-out swinging. In the sixth inning, Sands struck-out, Rod
Barajas popped out to first base and Kershaw ground out to third base without any run contribution.
Kershaw surrendered six hits, one home-run, two walks, one run and one earned run on his 115 pitches. He said, “It's a testament to our bullpen tonight. These guys picked me up time in and time out. It's a culmination of things. When you win 20 games it's
a whole lot of people helping you out back there.”
Dee Gordon singled off left-field at the bottom of the seventh inning but Justin Sellers popped out to pitcher, Kemp struck-out and Rivera ground out without extending the Dodgers’ lead. In the eighth inning, Giants’ batters were able to score only one run
and reduced their lead 2-1. Stewart hit a solo homer towards centre-field to keep the Giants alive.
Giants failed to get on top during the ninth. However, the Dodgers led off the three-game series 1-0 against the Giants at Los Angeles.
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