Kershaw Shuts The Door

It seems like every time Clayton Kershaw pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he establishes a first or something that has only been done once or twice. In the final game against the San Francisco Giants, he struck out 15 hitters, the first time in modern baseball history that a pitcher has struck out at least 14 hitters in back-to-back games. He now has a career high 251 strikeouts in only 194 innings. More important than the "first" pitching feat was the fact that he beat the Giants for the first time this season. He threw 132 pitches, 95 for strikes. Ordinarily, Don Mattingly would not let him throw this many pitches but closer Kenley Jansen had pitched in back-to-back games and I don't think Don Mattingly trusted the sweep of the Giants in someone else's hands.