Clayton Kershaw takes the mound Wednesday for the major league leading Los Angeles Dodgers who are hoping to take care of business once again against the Arizona Diamondbacks. This will be game two of a three-game series between the teams.
Kershaw will be facing the Diamondbacks for the third time this season as he will be making his ninth start of the season. Kershaw has compiled an ERA of 1.50 to go along with a 0.72 WHIP across 36 innings pitched this year.
Right-hander Taylor Clarke for the Diamondbacks has been sharp this season after an up-and-down rookie season finishing 5-5 with a 5.31 ERA last year. Clarke has pitched very effectively out of the bullpen this season before joining the rotation when Merrill Kelly went down with a shoulder injury. Clarke carries a 1-0 record thus far this season with a 2.96 ERA over 27.1 innings tossed this year.
Kershaw Continues to Shine
The Los Angeles Dodgers will have their ace on the mound again Wednesday night as Clayton Kershaw goes for his sixth win of the season. There is no question Kershaw's dominance over his 13 years of wearing Dodger blue has been nothing short of fantastic.
Since Aug. 20 Kershaw has only surrendered two runs over ten hits to go with 29 strikeouts in 26 innings covering his last four starts. For the three-time NL Cy Young award he has thrown 15 consecutive scoreless innings. In fact in his last start against Arizona Kershaw held the D-Backs hitless until the sixth inning.
Kershaw also threw himself into MLB history his last time the southpaw was on the hill he became the 39th pitcher in MLB history with 2,500 strikeouts. He ended up passing Christy Mathewson (2,502) for 38th place on baseball's career list.
The Dodgers remained tied with the D-Backs in the series opener Tuesday night until they were able to open up the game in the top of the tenth inning. Gavin Lux nailed his second homer of the game in the top of tenth to put the Dodgers on top 10-6.
Arizona Loses Again in Extra Innings
The Arizona Diamondbacks got off to the start they needed too against the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. After trailing 1-0 going into the bottom of the third inning the D-Backs were able to put up five runs on four hits. Kole Calhoun and Daulton Varsho both homered in the third inning and the D-Backs found themselves up 5-1 early on the Dodgers.
By the time the 7th inning rolled around the game was tied at six runs a piece and it wasn't until the extra innings where the Dodgers scored a run on a fielding error to make it 7-6, and then Lux homered again for the Dodger blue to make it a four run 10th inning and a 10-6 Dodger lead over the underdog D-Backs.
Arizona would battle back in the bottom of the tenth after a Christian Walker two-run home run made it 10-8. Eduardo Escobar would then double to right field and David Peralta would single to center to score Escobar making it a 10-9 game. However, the D-Backs would strike out looking to end the game and lose by the final of 10-9.
Right-Hander Taylor Clarke has filled in nicely as a starter after starting the year in the bullpen. Last time he took the mound was against San Francisco and he was able to last three innings giving up three runs on six hits. Over his three starts this season he has 3.75 ERA.
Notable Trends
- DBacks are 2-9 in their last 11 games vs. a left-handed starter.
- DBacks are 1-5 in their last 6 home games.
- Dodgers are 6-1 in their last 7 during game 2 of a series.
- Dodgers are 4-1 in their last 5 Wednesday games.
