LOS ANGELES, CA — Whenever the Dodgers send Clayton Kershaw to the mound, the overwhelming feeling among the fans is that it will all end well at the end of the day. The LA traffic will be a joy ride home, including the one hour or more to get out of the parking lot and onto the freeway.
The Cardinals are hitting .321 against lefties, the best in baseball, and the pitch they hit the most, is the slider. Kershaw has the best slider, and batters only hit .165 when he uses it on them. Well, guess what? It was not in the Cards tonight against this incredible future Hall of Fame lefty. Kershaw had a line of seven innings, zero runs, two hits, zero walks, and nine strikeouts. He threw 88 pitches, 68 for strikes. And that slider? Twelve of his 21 outs were on sliders. He retired the first 15 batters he faced and didn’t allow a runner past first base all night!
Clayton Kershaw, Wicked Sliders. 🤢
6Ks thru 5 pic.twitter.com/vu2I0rsHz8
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 30, 2023
The Dodgers were stealing bases tonight, and it was the reason LA was able to score the only run of the game. Freddie Freeman swiped two bases. It marked the first time in his career that he has had multi-stolen bases in a game. James Outman stole second base in the second inning and continued to third on a throwing error by catcher Andrew Knizner, scoring on an Austin Barnes single to center. And that was all the scoring we would see.
James Outman – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
Cardinals starter Jordan Montgomery scattered five hits over 6.2 innings, allowing one run and two walks with seven strikeouts. He more than pitched well enough to win, but the Cards were no match for Kershaw, who improved to 5-1, 1.89 ERA.
Jordan Montgomery – Image Credit: Emma Sharon/Latino Sports
And again, the 48,763 fans who came to Dodger Stadium went home happy. They also all left with a Manny Mota bobblehead as it was a day the Dodgers honored the 85-year-old Latin great Manny Mota, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, by inducting him into the Legends of Dodger Baseball, becoming its sixth member.
Congratulations Manny!
Manny Mota Bobblehead – Image Credit: William Coppola/Latino Sports
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