Kershaw stems LA's skid with 7 scoreless

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers were in danger of getting swept in a three-game series at home for the first time since August 2018. Clayton Kershaw wasn’t going to let that happen.

As he’s done throughout the years, Kershaw delivered a gem just when his team needed it most. The Dodgers’ ace struck out eight over seven shutout innings, helping the club snap a three-game losing streak with an 8-0 win over the Reds on Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

“Today was a good one,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “It was nice to win a big league ballgame and it started with Clayton. We had a lead and he went out there and did his job.”

With another stellar performance, Kershaw continued his early-season dominance. The future Hall of Famer has a 2.09 ERA this year, his fourth-best six-game start to a season in his illustrious career. If you eliminate his rough outing on Opening Day against the Rockies, Kershaw has a 1.09 ERA in his last five games.

Wednesday's outing also marked Kershaw’s 83rd career scoreless start, tying Randy Johnson for the sixth most of any pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920). He trails only Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Don Sutton and Tom Seaver.

“It was just good to get back in the win column. We’re scuffling a little bit and [we] wanted to end the homestand on a good note,” Kershaw said. “It doesn’t feel good to lose three in a row. Our job as a starting pitcher is to always come out and give our team a chance and put up zeroes. That didn’t change today.”

So far this season, Kershaw has done things a little bit differently -- but just as effectively. It’s the first time in Kershaw’s career that he has thrown his slider more than his four-seam fastball. That continued Wednesday, as the left-hander threw 39 sliders and 29 fastballs. But Kershaw also had his curveball working, making him almost impossible to hit.

He needed just 90 pitches (64 strikes) to get through Cincinnati's lineup. The 23 whiffs were also a season high for Kershaw, eclipsing the 21 swings-and-misses he recorded on April 6 against the A’s. The seven whiffs on his curveball were also a season high.

“From the side, it looked really good,” said Reds manager David Bell. “Looked like his breaking ball was sharp and he was keeping the ball down and just mixing those pitches using both sides of the plate. Looked like some really tough at-bats from what I could tell.”

To back up Kershaw, the Dodgers’ offense saw its bats wake up in a big way. L.A. was kept quiet by Reds ace Sonny Gray, who battled against Kershaw, striking out 11 over 5 2/3 innings. The Dodgers got on the board in the second on a Luke Raley double play that allowed Chris Taylor to score. In the third, Justin Turner added another run, smashing his sixth homer of the season.

In the eighth, the Dodgers’ offense looked as relentless as it did at the beginning of the season. Taylor, AJ Pollock, Matt Beaty and Mookie Betts all delivered with RBI hits as Los Angeles broke the game open with a six-run frame.

The Dodgers’ bullpen, which has also struggled as of late, was able to toss two scoreless innings. Blake Treinen worked out of trouble in the eighth, striking out Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos, stranding runners at the corners to preserve L.A.’s lead.

“We know we’re not playing our best baseball right now. I think you can attribute it to a lot of different factors,” Taylor said. “The bottom line is we’re not playing up to our capabilities. There in the eighth inning, hopefully that can give us a little confidence and we’ll turn the page heading into this road trip.”

It wasn’t a strong homestand for the Dodgers, who salvaged a 2-5 record with a win Wednesday. But they get the benefit of having a happy flight to Milwaukee, where they begin a four-game series Thursday and face some more tough pitching.

“In this game, you have to have a short memory,” Roberts said. “Certainly the homestand wasn’t ideal -- not even close to ideal -- but the recent memory is that we won a baseball game.”