When it appeared that Clayton Kershaw was coming to the rescue for the Los Angeles Dodgers, one swing of the bat by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams changed everything.
Adams jacked a three-run homer off Kershaw in the bottom of the seventh inning, erasing a 2-0 deficit to allow the Cardinals to close out L.A. by a score of 3-2 in Tuesday’s Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted just how unlikely Adams’ dinger off the ultimate southpaw in Kershaw was:
The Orange County Register‘s Pedro Moura added even more interesting analysis:
Cardinals hitters were frustrated time and again with Kershaw’s trademark deceptive delivery. They swung at many pitches in the dirt in putting up a goose egg through six innings in a potential closeout game.
From the time he struck out the side in the first, it looked as though Kershaw was firing on all cylinders. ESPN Stats & Info highlighted the significance of Kershaw’s hot start:
Adams’ shot over Busch Stadium’s right field wall extinguished that momentum, setting the stage for a tense conclusion.
Hard-throwing closer Trevor Rosenthal got a quick out but then walked A.J. Ellis to put the tying run aboard in the top of the ninth. He then conceded a single to Dee Gordon after striking out Justin Turner. However, a harmless grounder by Carl Crawford got a force at second base to seal the deal.
The Cardinals’ official Twitter account highlighted how consistently the club has been in contention:
MLB Public Relations went even further in describing St. Louis’ greatness:
Before the bullpen took over and tossed three shutout innings to finish the job—Marco Gonzales got the win with a scoreless seventh—Shelby Miller fared well in the unenviable position of being Kershaw’s counterpart.
It took grounding into a double play, but the Dodgers manufactured a run in the top of the sixth inning to get on the board first. Matt Kemp’s grounder scored Crawford, and reliever Seth Maness gave up a single that Dodgers infielder Juan Uribe smacked to right-center.
That scored All-Star Hanley Ramirez for a critical insurance run that Miller was charged with, though the St. Louis starter yielded just five hits over 5.2 innings.
In light of how he was tagged for eight earned runs at Dodger Stadium in Game 1, the parallels between Kershaw’s prior appearance and Tuesday’s effort were fascinating, per SportsCenter:
Kershaw discussed taking the ball and staring elimination in the face on the road, via ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Mark Saxon:
I try not to look at all the numbers and all the stats, just try to go out and try to win a game for us [Tuesday]. That’s all I really do. It’s too hard to think about all that stuff. Whether you do good or bad, you get too big a head or too down on yourself. You try to stay as even keel as you possibly can and just prepare for the next one.
That’s what he and the Dodgers will have to do now heading into 2015. ESPN’s Skip Bayless weighed in on Kershaw’s loss:
Tuesday’s start on three days’ rest saw Kershaw show no signs of tiring through six, as he was consistently bringing the heat at 94 mph even at that latter stage of his outing.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports noted how Kershaw’s impressive regular season should have almost guaranteed he’d bounce back, even amid the adverse circumstances:
ESPN’s Bomani Jones offered his take:
Indeed, just one hanging breaking ball was enough to completely reverse Kershaw and the Dodgers’ fortunes, sending them home to L.A. not to play a Game 5, but to reflect on falling short.
It was a strong season overall for the Dodgers, but they will have to find a way to regroup after this bitter bow-out in four games. The best-of-five format lends itself to unpredictable results with the smaller sample size, though seeing Kershaw go 0-2 after a 21-3 regular season is a letdown for all parties involved.
The Cardinals will take on the winner of the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants. With inconsistent production from the lineup, St. Louis will have to lean heavily on pitching. What’s nice is that staff ace Adam Wainwright won’t have to pitch a Game 5 against the Dodgers’ high-octane offense.
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