He didn’t strikeout 14. Or eight. Or even five. But what Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw did do on Friday evening in front of a completely sold out Dodger Stadium was prove to naysayers and ‘Kershaw’s over the hill’ critics that he is absolutely positively not over the hill … not by any measure.

All the 30-year-old Dallas, Texas native and future Hall of Famer did was toss eight innings (that’s not a typo) of two-hit / shutout ball in the Dodgers 3-0 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game-2 of the 2018 National League Division Series to give his team a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-five series.

“He pitched,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts concisely of Kershaw’s brilliant performance. “For me, one of the best outings I’ve seen that I can recall. He changed speeds, used both sides of the plate and changed eye levels. There was soft contact and he was in complete control. You’ve got Sandy Koufax in the front row and he was outstanding.”

From his first pitch to his 85th on Friday night, Clayton Kershaw was in complete control.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Ironically, although Kershaw gave up only two hits while striking out three and walking none, one of those hits was a double into the left-center field gap by Braves left fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. to leadoff the game. And even though Acuña would take third on a ground out back to the mound, he was left stranded there after an outstanding defensive play by Dodgers second baseman Kiké Hernandez and a strikeout of Braves right fielder Nick Markakis to end the inning and the threat.

Kershaw would then retire the next 14 batters he would face.

“Any time you can get out of that first inning without giving up a run is huge, especially as the home team,” Kershaw told SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo immediately after the game. “Giving your guys a chance to score first is always really important. I was fortunate to get out of that and Kiké made a nice play on Freddie there.”

As for that scoring first thing, that came as a result of a leadoff double to right in the first inning by a blazing hot Joc Pederson, followed by a two-out home run to left field by Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado … on a 3-0 count.

As is often the case whenever Kershaw is on the mound for the Dodgers, Machado’s first-inning two-run home run would prove to be all the run support that the future Hall of Famer would need.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal would give Kershaw an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home run to right-center field.

Grandal’s 419-foot no-doubter to right-center in the bottom of the fifth inning made it a 3-0 ballgame – more than enough with Clayton Kershaw on the mound. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With their win over the Braves on Friday, the Dodgers did something that hasn’t been done in 97 years – they began a postseason series with two consecutive shutouts. The last team to accomplish that extremely rare feat was the 1921 New York Yankees, with a 26-year-old outfielder named Babe Ruth on their roster.

Kershaw also added his name to the Dodgers history books (again). He joined Thursday’s Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu as only the second duo in franchise history to throw back-to-back shutouts for the Dodgers in postseason play:

Kershaw also became the first Dodgers starter to officially enter the ninth inning this season, although he did not make a pitch. The move, a crafty one, was made by Roberts to get Braves manager Brian Snitker to bring in right-handed pinch-hitter Tyler Flowers to face Kershaw.

It worked.

As soon as Flowers was announced, Roberts pulled his ace and brought in All-Star closer Kenley Jansen which, in turn, made Snitker bring in Lucas Duda to pinch-hit for Flowers, thus burning two Braves bench players in one fell swoop. Duda promptly grounded out to first but Acuña followed with a line drive single to right, to create a bit of late-game anxiety for the 54,452 on hand; most of whom were on their feet. But even though Acuña would take second and third base on defensive indifference, Jansen got Braves third baseman Johan Camargo to pop out to first and he struck out the always dangerous Freddie Freeman on a 3-2 count to give the Dodgers and Kershaw the win and Jansen his 14th postseason save in his nine-year MLB career.

Game over.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

After a travel day off on Saturday, the two teams meet for Game-3 of the 2018 NLDS at SunTrust Park in Atlanta on Sunday at 5:07 p.m. PT. The Dodgers will send their young co-ace right-hander Walker Buehler to the mound. The Braves have yet to announce who their Game-3 starter will be, but to be brutally honest, it really doesn’t matter, with the Dodgers on the cusp of making it to their second consecutive National League Championship Series, most likely against the Milwaukee Brewers, who also hold a two-games-to-none lead in their division series against the Colorado Rockies.

Play Ball!