Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman said it best:

“That was huge for us. We needed Clayton to go deep in the game, and he did exactly that. It’s what he’s been doing his whole career and whole life pretty much.”

What Clayton Kershaw did was give his team seven very strong innings in a day game after a night game; a night game in which every Dodgers reliever but one was used against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field; a day game in which Kershaw allowed only one run on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks on 92 total pitches (70 strikes) in the Dodgers 8-1 rout, to take two of three from the Brewers and prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to add:

“Clayton was great, he was great. He was crisp, he was efficient, he worked ahead, everything was on point. We needed every bit of it.”

As for Kershaw, the 35-year-old Dallas, TX native and future first-ballot Hall of Famer (humbly) had this to say about his outstanding performance on Wednesday:

“Overall, just better fastball command. That’s kind of the way it all started for me. I was able to put the ball on both sides of the plate, which is definitely helpful.”

Kershaw entered Wednesday’s contest with 2,855 career strikeouts, which had him tied with nine-time All-Star and Hall of Fame right-hander Jim Bunning at 21st on MLB’s all-time strikeout list. Kershaw now holds that 21st spot alone (currently) at 2,863, with former Dodger and fellow future Hall of Fame right-hander Zack Greinke next up on the list in 20th place (currently) with 2,909 career K’s.

Of course, you don’t win a Major League Baseball game by a score of 8-1 without some heavy hitting, of which the Dodgers had plenty, including back-to-back solo home runs by the aforementioned Freeman and Dodgers catcher Will Smith in the top of the fourth inning, and a two-run shot in the top of the sixth by Dodgers second baseman Miguel Vargas to give Kershaw and the Dodgers a then 6-1 lead.

Vargas was also the middleman in a huge 6-4-3 double play to bring an end to the only real threat the Brewers mounted in the bottom of the sixth.

“Two outs on one pitch, that’s a good way to do it,” Kershaw said of the Brewers’ crushing twin killing.

The Dodgers have an off-day on Thursday before opening a six-game homestand, with three against the division-rival San Diego Padres and three interleague games against the AL Central first-place Minnesota Twins.

Play Ball!

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