Clayton Kershaw dominates Rockies at Coors Field in Dodgers’ 5-0 win

It was like the Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Louisiana-Monroe. Or Tiger Woods against the field at the 2000 U.S. Open.

What it was, was the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw dominating the Rockies on a hot Tuesday night at Coors Field.

The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner, a legitimate candidate to win his fourth this season, pitched six scoreless innings, flirted with a no-hitter, gave up one hit, and faced the minimum number of batters.

Los Angeles won, 5-0, escaping major trouble in the ninth after Phil Bickford walked the bases full. Evan Phillips came on to bail out Bickford and got Elias Diaz to fly out to deep left-center field. For a moment, it looked as if Diaz had hit his second grand slam in his last three games.

Kershaw kept Colorado off-balance from the beginning. He issued a leadoff walk to Diaz in the fifth, but Diaz was quickly erased when C.J. Cron grounded into a double play. Brenton Doyle leaked a single through the left side of the infield with two outs in the sixth but promptly got picked off.

The Hall of Fame-bound lefty has struggled at Coors Field. He entered the game 11-8 with a 4.82 ERA in 26 career starts. Last season, he was 0-2 with an 8.68 ERA here. But mixed his pitches beautifully Tuesday night, and although he had just two strikeouts, he induced nine groundball outs.

Kershaw improved to 10-4 and whittled his ERA from 2.72 to 2.55.  For the record, Kershaw no-hit the Rockies in June 2014 at Dodger Stadium. He came one batter away from a perfect game and struck out 15 Rockies.

Kershaw got a boost from designated hitter J.D. Martinez, who hit two home runs and reached the magic milestone of 300 career homers with a leadoff blast off of reliever Brad Hand in the sixth. He smacked an opposite-field two-run homer to right off of starter Connor Seabold in the third.

Too bad Martinez has never worn a Rockies uniform because he rakes in LoDo. In 12 games at Coors Field, he’s hitting .442 (23-for-52) with five home runs.

Seabold, who missed his last start because of soreness in his right triceps, got through the first inning quickly but then began struggling with his command. Still, the right-hander hung tough enough to pitch five innings, giving Colorado’s overburdened bullpen a small break.

Seabold was charged with four runs on five hits. He walked one and struck out three. He needed 93 pitches (55 strikes) to get through his evening, but considering that he threw 49 pitches over the first two frames, Seabold managed to buckle down.

The Dodgers continue to own Colorado. They won two games in Los Angeles early in the season and now have a 62-28 record against the Rockies since 2018 — the most wins by a National League team against another team during that span.

The Rockies managed just three hits: Doyle’s single and back-to-back singles by Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon in the seven off Brusdar Graterol. But that mini-rally was snuffed out when Diaz grounded into an inning-ending double play.