|
 The victory leveled the series at 2-2 and set up a decisive Game
Five on Thursday with the winner advancing to the best-of-seven
National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs, who
beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in their series.
It also snapped a personal five-game postseason losing streak for
three-time Cy Young Award winner Kershaw, who pitched seven innings
and gave up one run on three hits, which was all the Mets could
muster in the entire game.
Two relievers followed the big left-hander to the mound as Los
Angeles' pitching shut down a Mets' attack that produced 13 runs on
Monday.
"I felt good to get a win tonight. I definitely wanted to send this
back to Los Angeles," said Kershaw. "I just really wanted to push
it."
Los Angeles scored their runs in the third inning in a rally started
by a single from Kershaw and keyed by an RBI-single by Adrian
Gonzalez, followed by a two-run double by ex-Met Justin Turner off
New York rookie starter Steven Matz.
Pitching on three days rest, one fewer than usual, following his
Game One loss, Kershaw struck out eight and walked only one through
94 pitches, yielding his only run on a fourth-inning homer by Daniel
Murphy.
Kershaw, who has a career regular season record of 114-56 with an
ERA of 2.43, came into Tuesday's game with a post-season record of
1-6 and a career ERA of 4.99, and left as the man who saved the
Dodgers' season."I'm actually really happy for him," said Dodgers
manager Don Mattingly. "This kid is tremendous.
"To see him be able to do that tonight on short rest is a really
good feeling. I think a lot of those guys in (our) clubhouse feel
the same way."
[to top of second column] |
New York threatened in the eighth, putting men on first and second
with two outs after walks to Curtis Granderson and David Wright,
before Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got Murphy to fly out to right
on a 3-2 pitch.
"We played a pretty good ballgame I thought," said Mets manager
Terry Collins. "You're facing a pitcher, who when he's right, they
just don't get a lot of hits and he was right."
Kershaw relied on his fastball, mixing in a knee-buckling curveball
as the game wore on.
After giving up Murphy's home run in the fourth, the Texan went on
to strike out six of seven batters into the sixth inning.
Zack Greinke, LA's Game Two winner and a Cy Young candidate who went
19-3 with a 1.66 ERA in the regular season, will take the mound in
the series decider against Game One winner Jacob deGrom (14-8,
2.54).
(Editing by Greg Stutchbury/Peter Rutherford)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
