LOS ANGELES ― The Dodgers turned back the clock by welcoming several alumni Saturday night to commemorate the induction of Manny Mota into the “Legends Of Dodger Baseball.”
Clayton Kershaw then turned back the clock against the St. Louis Cardinals, something he’s turning into a regular occurrence in his 16th major league season.
Kershaw took a perfect game into the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 1-0 victory over the Cardinals before an announced crowd of 48,763 at Dodger Stadium. Evan Phillips pitched the eighth inning and Brusdar Graterol the ninth to record the save.
Kershaw (5-1), who did not walk a batter and struck out nine, finished the month of April with a 1.89 ERA in six starts. He kept the Cardinals off the bases until Dylan Carlson’s fifth-inning single; a Paul Goldschmidt single to lead off the seventh inning was the only other hit he allowed.
Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes and manager Dave Roberts both praised the consistency of Kershaw’s delivery, which has allowed him to maintain deception and overcome the relatively average velocity of his fastball and slider through the season’s first month.
Kershaw also threw eight curveballs on Saturday, none faster than 76 mph. The Cardinals swung and missed at five of them.
“Tonight was his best night (of 2023) for me,” Roberts said. “Just the way he tunneled tonight was exceptional. That’s as good of a team as you’re going to see versus left(-handed pitching) and the way he dominated those guys tonight was pretty impressive.”
St. Louis entered the weekend with a .321 batting average against left-handed pitchers, easily the highest in MLB.
After breaking up Kershaw’s bid at perfection, Carlson played the foil twice more. He made a stellar catch in center field above his head to deny Mookie Betts a chance at an extra-base hit in the fifth inning, then dove to catch a sinking fly ball to end the eighth inning, stranding two runners on base.
The Dodgers stranded eight runners on base in all, and went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Their only run came on an RBI single by Barnes in the second inning.
The inning began when James Outman singled, stole second base, and went to third on a wild pitch. Barnes’ fourth hit of the season, a line-drive single, came on a first-pitch fastball from Jordan Montgomery (2-4).
“Obviously I haven’t been coming through in a little bit,” said Barnes, whose batting average rose to .093. “To come through and give him a lead is really important because he’s so good when we’re ahead.”
One run was enough to support Kershaw, who made his 19th career start of seven innings or more without a run and two or fewer hits against him. Only five pitchers (Nolan Ryan, Walter Johnson, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Justin Verlander) have more.
Roberts had Phillips warm up after Goldschmidt’s single in the seventh inning, in case Kershaw needed help finishing the inning in a high-leverage situation. But Kershaw came back to retire Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Carlson on a total of 10 pitches. He threw just 88 pitches in all, 68 for strikes.
Why not let Kershaw pitch the eighth inning too?
“The stuff started to tick down a little bit,” Roberts said. “The last few starts, we’ve ridden him. There’s a long way to go, and regardless of the outcome it’s the right decision.”
Because Phillips had been warming up, Roberts elected to use the right-hander in the eighth inning. He worked around a fielding error by shortstop Chris Taylor and a walk to Andrew Knizner to retire the side.
Graterol threw only one pitch Friday to retire Goldschmidt, and he retired Goldschmidt again on a mere two pitches to begin the ninth inning. Graterol then got Arenado and Carlson to ground out around a Contreras single to finish the game. He and Phillips each have two saves this season.
Outman went 2 for 3 after making a mechanical adjustment following Friday’s game. Freddie Freeman stole his second and third bases of the season ― the first multi-steal game of his career.
The Dodgers (15-13) will go for their first three-game series sweep of the season Sunday against St. Louis (10-17).
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