Clayton Kershaw became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball postseason history to allow five hits and five runs before recording an out as the Arizona Diamondbacks routed the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-2, Saturday evening in Game 1 of a National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium.
Ketel Marte led off with a double and scored on Corbin Carroll’s single. Tommy Pham followed with a single and Christian Walker a double which drove in Carroll from second. Gabriel Moreno hit a three-run homer, increasing the Diamondbacks’ lead to 5-0.
Kershaw retired Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a ground out to shortstop Miguel Rojas, then walked Alek Thomas and allowed a double to Evan Longoria which scored Thomas, prompting manager Dave Roberts to replace Kershaw with rookie Emmet Sheehan after he allowed six runs and six hits in one-third of an inning.
“I think that obviously they took a lot of good swings,” Roberts said after the loss in the Dodgers’ 2023 postseason opener. “It seemed like they were on everything he threw up there. The Pham ball was down below and he scooped it, but outside of that, I think balls were just up and good pitches for them to hit. They didn’t miss them.”
When asked “Is there anything physically wrong with Kershaw more than he’s been dealing with,” Roberts responded no.
“I thought the stuff was good,” Roberts said. “Just some mistakes that they capitalized on.”
Roberts said he will not change his plan to have Kershaw pitch in Game 4, if the Dodgers extend the series with at least one victory in the next two games.
Merrill Kelly limited the Dodgers to three hits in 6 1/3 innings for the victory after going 0-11 against them, the most career losses without a win against a single opponent entering a postseason start against that team all-time, according to the sports analytics company Opta Sports.
“I think the main reason why today ended up better than they have in the past is the aggressiveness in the zone and being able to get ahead of people and not try to nitpick and get behind them,” Kelly said.
“That team over there, when you get behind them, they’re really good at controlling the zone and not swinging at pitches out of the zone. I made it a point to be aggressive. And with that nine-run lead, it made it a lot easier to do that.”
Said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo: “I had to answer a lot of questions about Merrill over past couple of days with the way the Dodgers have banged him around in the stadium. I think he had a mindset going into this that he wasn’t going to let anything like that happen to him again.
“I think he took it personal. And he went out there executed at a very, very high level. He was ahead in counts, and I think he controlled counts and controlled at-bats as good as we’ve seen him all year long.”
Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played Monday at Dodger Stadium.
Arizona added three runs off Sheehan in the second inning. Carroll led off with a homer. Gurriel’s one-out double drove in Pham, who singled. Longoria’s sacrifice fly drove in Walker, who was hit by a pitch.
Thomas hit a solo homer in the seventh. Pham hit a solo homer in the eighth in front of a crowd announced at 51,653
Will Smith tripled in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who both walked, with the Dodger runs in the eighth. It was the only hit allowed by three Diamondbacks relievers in 3 2/3 innings.
Arizona out-hit the Dodgers 13-4.
The Dodgers were 8-5 against the Diamondbacks during the regular season, winning the last five games, sweeping a two-game series at Chase Field Aug. 8-9 and a three-game series at Dodger Stadium Aug. 28-30.