CHICAGO — Clayton Kershaw’s playoff renaissance is over, at least for this year. The ace flopped at a big moment — again.
Kershaw’s postseason resume took another hit in Game 6 of the N.L. Championship Series, finishing off the reeling Los Angeles Dodgers. The Chicago Cubs beat up the three-time Cy Young Award winner and took advantage of Los Angeles’ shaky defense on their way to a 5-0 victory Saturday night, leaving the Dodgers still in search of their first World Series trip since winning the title in 1988.
Kershaw could have started Game 5 on three days’ rest, but manager Dave Roberts decided to save him for Saturday night at Wrigley Field. Roberts was hoping a couple more days would help Kershaw duplicate his performance from Game 2, when he pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in a 1-0 victory.
The decision worked out quite well — for the Cubs. After winning a pair of shutouts in Games 2 and 3, the Dodgers dropped the next two by a combined score of 18-6. Even the great Kershaw was unable to slow Chicago’s momentum, and Dave Roberts’ first season as Dodgers manager ended in disappointment.
The left-hander allowed four earned runs and seven hits while dropping to 4-7 with a 4.55 ERA in 18 playoff games.
“I think that the first thing I saw is the Cubs hitters, they had a great game plan tonight,” Roberts said. “And there was a couple mistake sliders that they took advantage of. But they were running counts, they used the whole field, and there was traffic all night for Clayton. And he gave it everything he had, but when they did — when he did make a mistake, they made him pay.”
Fowler hit a ground-rule double on Kershaw’s third pitch of the night, and the Cubs were off and running. Kris Bryant followed with an RBI single. Then left fielder Andrew Toles dropped Anthony Rizzo’s fly ball to the gap in left-center, setting up Ben Zobrist’s sacrifice fly.
It was the first time Kershaw had given up two runs in the first inning all season.
Fowler added a two-out RBI single in the second, rookie Willson Contreras hit a leadoff drive in the fourth and Anthony Rizzo connected in the fifth. It was the first time Kershaw had allowed two homers in a game since April 9 at San Francisco.
That was it for Roberts, who hit for Kershaw in the sixth.
While Kershaw struggled against the Cubs, the Dodgers were shut down by Kyle Hendricks and Aroldis Chapman, who combined on a two-hitter. Los Angeles had four baserunners, no advancing past first as the Cubs turned three double plays and ended an inning with a pickoff.
Dave Roberts managed the Dodgers to the NL West title after taking over for Don Mattingly. But injuries to Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson and Hyun-Jin Ryu hurt rotation depth.
Kenta Maeda, who won 16 games during his rookie season, struggled in the playoffs, and 20-year-old Julio Urias was knocked out in the fourth inning of his first postseason start in Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles went with three starters in the Division Series against Washington and Kershaw pitched three times, including a two-out save in the clinching Game 5. When he stepped up again in his first start in the NLCS, it looked as if he might be on the verge of a postseason breakthrough.
But his turnaround came to a screeching halt on a cool night in the Windy City. He dropped to 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA in five career starts with the Dodgers facing postseason elimination, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“We have asked a lot of Clayton all year long, so, again, it’s just more of you got to give those hitters credit,” Roberts said.
