LOS ANGELES — Someone finally had Clayton Kershaw’s back
The bullpen the Dodgers had convinced themselves was now a strength let them down in October again, blowing a three-run lead left behind by Kershaw on Tuesday afternoon. But Chase Utley’s two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning gave them a 6-5 lead and sent them back to Washington for Game 5 of their National League Division Series with the Washington Nationals.
The best-of-five series will conclude Thursday at Nationals Park. The Dodgers and Nationals will play at 2 p.m. PT if the Cubs-Giants series requires a fifth game. If the Cubs-Giants series ends in four, the Dodgers and Nationals will play at 5 p.m.
Pitching on short rest, Kershaw took that three-run lead into the seventh inning and headed to the dugout with that lead intact — but only two outs and the bases loaded.
Kershaw barely had time to get a drink of water before all three runs had scored as Dave Roberts’ attempt to play the matchups with his relievers worked no better than Don Mattingly’s attempts in postseasons before him. Pedro Baez hit a batter with his one and only pitch. Daniel Murphy stroked Avilan’s second pitch into left-center field for a two-run single and that quickly the game was tied.
Tuesday’s result will provide more fuel to those who criticize Kershaw for his postseason failures. But this one wasn’t on him.
He didn’t dominate the Nationals’ lineup — only half of it. The top four hitters — Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Murphy — went 6 for 11 against Kershaw. From Anthony Rendon on down, the Nationals were 1 for 15 with seven strikeouts against Kershaw.
The top of the order put a run on the board in the first inning as Turner singled, moved to second when Kershaw walked Harper and scored on an RBI single by October nemesis Murphy.
It took 27 pitches for Kershaw to get through that first inning — hard labor that was reminiscent of his 101-pitch, five-inning grind in Game 1.
But Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give the Dodgers the lead and Kershaw pitched like a relieved man. He surrendered another run to the top of the Nats’ order in the third inning (Murphy driving it in with a sacrifice fly) but scored as many himself.
Kershaw led off the third with a double and scored on Justin Turner’s two-out RBI single, part of a two-run inning for the Dodgers. They added another run on Joc Pederson’s RBI double in the fifth and Kershaw rolled into the seventh inning — a dark alley for him every fall.
The demons all came out to play in the seventh.
Danny Espinosa — with eight strikeouts in the series including each of his first two at-bats against Kershaw on Tuesday — led off with a single. Kershaw retired the next two batters but Turner hit a slow grounder to shortstop Corey Seager whose throw to second base for the first was late.
Roberts came out to talk to Kershaw before leaving him in to face Harper, obviously telling Kershaw to empty the tank against his fellow former MVP because it would be his last batter. The matchup went eight pitches with Harper laying off a full-count fastball to draw a walk and load the bases.
Baez and Avilan stepped into the recurring role of relievers wearing the goat horns for the Dodgers in October.
This time, though, there was still life in the Dodgers’ offense.
With two outs in the eighth, Andrew Toles was hit by a pitch. Pinch-hitter Andre Ethier singled to left field and Utley followed with his clutch single.
All six of the Dodgers’ runs in the game scored after there were two outs in the inning.
Kenley Jansen retired the side without incident in the ninth to preserve the lead and extend the series.
