Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish more than surpassed expectations with their marquee pitching matchup that went in favor of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who took the series with a 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres.
Darvish was authoring a perfect game until he hit Zach McKinstry with a pitch in the fifth inning. Adding to the frustration for Darvish was it appeared McKinstry stuck out his foot in order to be struck by the ball.
It wound up sparking a rally as Luke Raley followed with a single to keep the inning alive and give the Dodgers their first hit of the game. Austin Barnes also walked and it led to an eight-pitch battle between Darvish and Kershaw.
Darvish fell behind 2-0 before forcing the count even. Kershaw fouled off two consecutive pitches and then laid off a pair of balls outside the zone to break up the scoreless tie with an RBI walk.
That wound up being the only run Darvish allowed as he collected nine strikeouts and held the Dodgers to Raley’s base hit over seven innings.
The moment was a bit of poetic justice for Kershaw, who exchanged words with Jurickson Profar the inning prior. An apparent strikeout to end the fourth was overturned on review awarding Profar first base because of catcher’s interference. Kershaw strongly disagreed with the call and exchanged expletives with Profar.
While the Padres managed baserunners against Kershaw in multiple innings, their best opportunity came in the sixth. A walk and base hit put runners at the corners, but Chris Taylor got Kershaw out of the jam by fielding a grounder that skipped off the mound for the start of a 5-3 inning-ending double play.
With David Price and Kenley Jansen both unavailable, Jimmy Nelson, Blake Treinen and Victor Gonzalez combined for three scoreless innings to finish the game out. Justin Turner’s solo home run in the top of the ninth provided insurance.
The Padres put the tying runners on base but were turned away on a terrific diving catch by Mookie Betts in the gap to end the game.
The Dodgers now are on an eight-game winning streak and have a chance to complete a sweep of the Padres.
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