Comcast Sportsnet
With a division title in sight, the Dodgers turned to Clayton Kershaw and the left-hander was brilliant.
Kershaw, who came into the game with a 1.61 career era against SF, threw a one-hit shut out, striking out 13 and LA clinched the NL West with an 8-0 victory.
Kershaw was a little shaky in the early innings, but a soft line drive single and a walk in the third inning were the only San Francisco base runners, and the southpaw struck out the side in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings. From the fifth through the first out of the ninth, thanks to a lot of nasty sliders and curve balls, he fanned 11 of 13 batters.
Some other things to discuss:
* Enrique Hernandez led off the third inning with solo home run off Madison Bumgarner. Color commentator Mike Krukow then called Hernandez "the Bumgarner whisperer", so he wasn't going to get away with that.
* We can call this Stats We Don't Need (Highlighted). Here's Bumgarner as a hitter:
He's 9-for-15 when the ball is thrown directly down the middle of the plate. Fine. He's a good hitting pitcher and he's also a pitcher, so that makes some sense.
But: 1-for-2 (.500) on balls on the inside part of the plate? You don't need to highlight that and also point out that it's ABOVE MLB AVG (and we also don't need to be told .000 is BELOW MLB AVG). What you're saying is, .500 is better and .000 is worse than league average?
Thanks, broadcast team!
* I think we have a winner for 300 Game Season Sweater of the Year
To be honest, it was a one-sweater race.
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