Clayton Kershaw tosses complete game shutout to lift Dodgers over Phillies

Ellis and Jimmy Rollins who each homered as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 at Dodger Stadium.

If the Phillies are to get to Kershaw, they’d be well advised to do so early – seven of the 12 runs he’s allowed during his winless stretch have come during the first three innings.

“Sandy (Koufax) always said, ‘That’s the goal, ‘” Kershaw said of his mentor. In 17 starts, Kershaw is 5-6 with a 3.08 ERA, though the record is deceiving.

Ultimately, I do expect Kershaw to have a chance thanks to an injury or a pitcher who threw on Sunday claiming they can’t go. “Obviously, he’s got six losses, so somebody caught him at the right time. We unfortunately didn’t”.

Kershaw, the reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award victor, is bidding for his fifth straight All-Star selection.

“I didn’t leave anything behind”, he said.

Compared to Johnny Cueto with 104.2 IP and 100 K and Carlos Martinez with 100 IP and 105 K. As Jeurys Familia has thrown 39.2 IP and 41 K, but he’s a relief pitcher, not a starting pitcher. Given that the Dodgers have been aggressive with their roster management this season, it wouldn’t surprise me if Garcia gets optioned for a fresh arm on Tuesday. “He’s been pitching great, his ERA is down and there’s not really much you can ask from a guy that started off the season not as good as everybody hoped”. Dodgers righthander Zack Greinke enters the series finale riding a streak of 272/3 consecutive scoreless innings over his last four starts.

Kershaw scattered 8 hits, walked no one, and struck out 13 Phils’ batters. As Dodger fans, I feel as though we are pretty used to these long games.

“I just got to hit a little better”, said Rollins, who has no plans to retire next season.

The Phillies tied the game on a two-run home run by Freddy Galvis off Garcia in the top of the second, with the Dodgers going back ahead 3-2 on back-to-back doubles by Yasiel Puig and Andre Ethier in the bottom of the second. The first came on a wild pitch in the sixth, when Kershaw gave up consecutive singles to Maikel Franco and Darin Ruf before retiring the last two batters on popups.

“Dom helped me out, throwing guys out at third base”, Billingsley said. His two-run single helped the Dodgers to a 10-7 win in the series opener Monday. Juan Lagares also drove in a run for the Mets, who took advantage of an error by All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford to break a 0-0 tie in the sixth. Yasmani Grandal (.277, 32 Rs, 14 HRs, 36 RBIs) continued his strong season yesterday, going 2 for 3 with one run, one home run, and two RBIs.

When looking at Kershaw numbers compared to other three pitchers. Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen and Jung Ho Kang had RBI singles in a three-run eighth, all with two outs.

But a three-run home run by Ryan Howard off Surkamp in the third put the Phillies up 5-3, and they made it 6-3 on a home run by Odubel Herrera in the fourth. Then he did just that, teeing off on a sinker left up for the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.

Behind Brett Anderson, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 6-1 in their last seven versus teams with losing records.

Rollins led off the second inning with a double to right field, and Ellis followed with a line drive to center that just cleared the fence.

Pitching in a comfort zone, Billingsley won for the first time in over two years, helping the last-place Philadelphia Phillies beat his old team, NL West-leading Los Angeles, 7-2 Tuesday night.