The Road To 20 Wins

Clayton Kershaw was not as sharp against the Chicago Cubs yesterday when he got his 20th win as he has been in the last three months. The Dodgers staked him out to a quick 6-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Cubs cut that lead in half in the bottom of the first inning. Kershaw's control wasn't quite what it normally is and his pitch count was very high. He threw 100 + pitches in his 5 innings of work and had at least two Cubs on base in every inning. Kershaw's final stat line was 5 innings, 3 earned runs, 9 K's, and 3 BB's. In most any other game he has pitched, Kershaw probably would have left the game with at the very least, a no decision. The Dodgers hitters had his back in this game. Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig hit three run homers, Dee Gordon had two hits in his 7th straight game, and Catcher A.J. Ellis hit two homeruns after only hitting only one all season long. Kershaw improved his record to 20-3 with a 1.80 ERA and he is only the third Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (Sandy Koufax and Claude Osteen are the others) to post more than one 20 win season. Kershaw's accomplishment was made more difficult this season by the fact that he missed five weeks at the beginning of the season.