Dallas Keuchel was good Tuesday night, but Clayton Kershaw was better as the Los Angeles Dodgers drew first blood in the 2017 World Series, topping the Houston Astros, 3-1. Here are your takeaways.
A hot start
The ball was definitely flying on an uncomfortably hot night at Chavez Ravine, where you could watch pitchers’ sweat-soaked jerseys turn different shades of gray throughout the night.
With a first-pitch temperature of 39.4 degrees Celsius, this was the hottest MLB post-season game on record. Now, those records only go back to 1984, which seems a strangely brief amount of time. But, still, you get the idea. It was real hot out there.
And both teams were swinging the bats aggressively in the early going, which didn’t work out so well for the Astros (Kershaw needed just 19 pitches to accumulate his first six outs) but did work out quite well for the Dodgers as Chris Taylor deposited Keuchel’s first pitch of the night — an 88-mph fastball on the plate — into the left-field seats.
Houston’s aggressive approach against Kershaw eventually paid off in the fourth, as Alex Bregman took a fastball for a ride, tying the game at one. It was the seventh home run allowed by Kershaw in his first 20 innings pitched this post-season. It was also the ninth consecutive start in which he’s allowed a home run, after giving up only one long ball in his seven starts prior.
Houston will need Bregman to be locked in offensively if it’s going to make some noise in this series. He batted .331/.404/.570 against left-handed pitching this season. Three of the four pitchers who could make starts for Los Angeles — Kershaw, Rich Hill and Alex Wood — are left-handed.
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King Kerhsaw
There was once a time when people questioned whether Kershaw could have success in the playoffs. That time was about three weeks ago. It should never be that time again.
On Tuesday, Kershaw was magnificent. He needed only nine pitches to cruise through the first. Only 10 to stay perfect through the second. He allowed his first hit with one out in the third, a groundball single, and then promptly struck out the next two batters on eight pitches.
There was Bregman’s solo shot in the fourth, followed by three consecutive strikeouts. Another strikeout in the fifth, and two more in the sixth, which gave Kershaw 11 on the night with only 73 pitches needed to record his first 18 outs.
Jose Altuve led off the seventh with a single, but no Astro advanced further than that, as Kershaw efficiently induced a couple force outs at second and a lazy fly ball to centre.
And that was it for Kershaw, who turned things over to Los Angeles’ buzzsaw bullpen after throwing only 83 pitches. Kershaw likely could’ve thrown a complete game if the Dodgers needed him to. But with Brandon Morrow and Kenley Jansen waiting and capable, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted instead to keep Kershaw as fresh as possible for another start later in the series.
Close but no cigar
Kerhsaw’s brilliance overshadowed a solid start from Keuchel as well. After giving up the homer to Taylor on his first pitch of the game, Keuchel settled right in and dominated the Dodgers through five innings. Mixing and matching with his four-seamer, two-seamer, cutter, slider and change-up, Keuchel relied on location and late movement to earn 11 groundball outs while striking out three.
But he gave up a decisive hit in the sixth. With a runner on first, Keuchel’s attention was divided, and Justin Turner took advantage of it, launching his fourth homer of the post-season immediately after two straight pickoff throws to first. Keuchel tried to go up and in on Turner, but left a cutter just far enough on the plate that the third baseman could make an adjustment and drive it out of the park.
Still, Keuchel’s final line — three runs on six hits over 6.2 innings pitched — would have been good enough to win on most nights, especially with Houston’s MLB-leading offence behind him. The problem for Keuchel was the three-time Cy Young winner on the mound for the other guys.
