Clayton Kershaw keeps rolling in win over Bryce Harper, Nationals
WASHINGTON -- Clayton Kershaw has been on a special roll the past two months, and nothing this week could stop it. Not a loss in the All-Star Game, not a changed routine before Saturday’s start at Washington, not even the leading candidate to succeed him as National League MVP.
“He put on a clinic today,” Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper said. “Really went out there and pitched like the MVP he is, and it was pretty devastating because we tried to go in there and do what we could, but he’s the best pitcher in baseball, so it’s pretty tough.”
Kershaw struck out Harper three times in three trips, and the rest of the Washington lineup didn’t fare much better, as the Dodgers’ left-hander turned in his strongest start of the season in a 4-2 win. He scattered three singles over eight shutout innings, striking out 14 with no walks. He threw 101 pitches, 73 of which were strikes.
The strikeouts were a season high — surpassing his previous best of 13 in his last outing against Philadelphia — and the hits were his second-least of the season.
“Unfortunately I’ve seen that way too much,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said. (Kershaw is now 8-2 with a 2.31 earned-run average against Washington.)
“He establishes strikes and then goes down out of the zone. I don’t know how many curveballs he threw today. Probably 15 of them. He may have thrown one for a ball.”
Indeed, his biting curveball was at its best, but all three of his pitches were strong — his fastball sat in the mid-90s, and his slider was a swing-and-miss pitch as well.
“I think I threw probably the best slider I’ve had all year,” Kershaw said. “That’s definitely encouraging. I’ve had good ones here and there, but I felt really consistent with it today. Felt like I could throw it kind of how I wanted to every single time. So that was huge for me.”
Of the Nationals’ three base runners, only one reached scoring position — and it was on an error by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner. With the runner at second and two out in the sixth, Kershaw fanned Harper, and then retired the next six hitters to end his outing.
“When he’s on like that, you’d better get lucky, because he’s pretty impressive,” Harper said. “Sometimes you just gotta tip your cap and laugh, because it was pretty impressive by him today.”
Kershaw has been impressive for the better part of the past two months. After starting the season with a subpar 4.32 earned-run average, he has now pitched 10 straight quality starts dating back to May 26. In that span, his ERA is 1.81, and he has struck out 87 hitters over 54.2 innings.
He slowed a bit Tuesday at the All-Star Game, allowing two runs in one inning and taking the loss for the NL. But he picked back up Saturday, despite having to alter his pregame routine.
A power outage during Friday’s game forced the Nationals and Dodgers to finish the game Saturday afternoon, before Kershaw’s start. That contest didn’t finish until almost 3:30 p.m., forcing Kershaw to do some of his preparation inside before his 4:05 start.
Once he toed the rubber, he was sharp right away. He struck out two Nationals in each of the first seven innings and let just five balls out of the infield.
In the ninth inning of a 4-0 game, manager Don Mattingly replaced him with closer Kenley Jansen, who allowed a two-run home run to Harper, extending his on-base streak to 15 games.
That was the only chance the Nationals had to get back in the game, and it wasn’t enough.
“(Kershaw) just didn’t afford us any,” Williams said. “The good ones don’t give you much.”
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