Dodgers proper fielder Mookie Betts connects on a two-run double within the fifth inning in opposition to Milwaukee Brewers in Sport 2 of the MLB wild-card collection on Thursday at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)

For 4 innings Thursday, the Dodgers, the juggernaut anticipated to plow via the short-handed Milwaukee Brewers within the best-of-three wild-card spherical at Dodger Stadium, seemed weak with an opportunity to comb and advance to the Nationwide League Division Collection.

They couldn’t determine right-hander Brandon Woodruff, one of many few wholesome high quality pitchers left for Milwaukee, as Clayton Kershaw posted zeroes to maintain them within the recreation. Then the gulf between the groups — maybe the most important between playoff opponents in main league historical past — abruptly surfaced within the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-Zero win. All it took was one mistake.

It ought to’ve been a routine double play to finish the inning. With runners on first and second, AJ Pollock hit a groundball proper to 3rd baseman Luis Urías, who stepped on the bag earlier than making an on-the-run throw to first base for the third out. However the ball short-hopped first baseman Jedd Gyorko. It bounced out and in of his glove. The Dodgers had life they usually pounced.

Austin Barnes, the Dodgers’ No. 9 hitter, adopted and laid off a 1-2 fastball Woodruff thought was strike three. Plate umpire Quinn Wolcott known as it a ball. Two pitches later, he hit a wonderfully positioned groundball up the center to attain Chris Taylor from second base for the sport’s first run. Subsequent, Mookie Betts lined a two-run double — his third double of the collection — down the left-field line. It was all of the cushion Kershaw wanted.

Kershaw sliced via a feeble offense that batted .223 in the course of the 60-game common season. The left-hander recorded a playoff career-high 13 strikeouts in eight innings, changing into the primary Dodgers starter to pitch into the eighth inning in 2020. He walked one batter. He wanted simply 93 pitches. He threw 45 sliders and induced 20 whiffs. He confronted 27 batters and one noticed a 2-and-Zero depend. Alongside the way in which, he handed Roger Clemens for the fourth-most profession playoff strikeouts in historical past.

With the win, the Dodgers superior to the Nationwide League Division Collection to face both the St. Louis Cardinals or San Diego Padres. Sport 1 is scheduled for Tuesday at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

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With Kershaw on the mound, Thursday might’ve marked the primary time 5 former MVP winners — Kershaw, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, Christian Yelich, and Ryan Braun — performed in the identical postseason recreation.

That chance was erased when Braun, the 2011 NL MVP, aggravated an indirect damage in Sport 1, additional hindering a depleted Brewers roster that was already with out one in every of its two greatest relievers, Devin Williams, and one in every of its two greatest starters, Corbin Burnes, due to accidents sustained in the course of the remaining week of the common season.

However the Brewers nonetheless had Brandon Woodruff. The correct-hander, an All-Star final season, completed the common season tied for eighth in fWAR amongst pitchers throughout the majors. He recorded a 3.05 earned-run common. He compiled greater than 11 strikeouts per 9 innings. And he loved earlier success reverse Kershaw within the playoffs; he had 4 strikeouts in two innings of aid and hit a house run off Kershaw in Sport 1 of the 2018 NLCS.

He offered a large problem to even the perfect offense within the sport. He allowed one hit and had eight strikeouts within the first 4 innings. He added a ninth strikeout to begin the fifth earlier than issues went south. Cody Bellinger, fooled by a changeup, flared a single to heart subject with a lunging swing. Taylor lined one other single to deliver up Pollock. Inside a couple of minutes, the Brewers had been in bother.

Betts’ double chased Woodruff. The correct-hander, nonetheless fuming from Wolcott’s name on the borderline pitch, screamed expletives on the umpire as he walked off the mound. The tirade received him ejected. In the long run, the query turned who might pitch the ninth for Los Angeles.

Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts emerged from Sport 1 on Wednesday discouraged by Kenley Jansen’s efficiency.

The nearer produced the three outs he wanted within the ninth inning to seal the win, however Roberts thought Jansen didn’t look good.

He stated Jansen’s stuff lacked “enamel.” He was alarmed when he threw an 86-mph cutter, 5 mph under his regular-season common. As soon as Jansen walked Jace Peterson , a .227 profession hitter, Roberts had Brusdar Graterol warming up in case the Dodgers’ two-run lead was put in additional hazard.

However Roberts modified his tune Thursday. Roberts claimed he thought Jansen’s efficiency was higher than his unique analysis after watching the video. Requested if he provided the completely different take merely to instill confidence in Jansen, Roberts emphasised he was honest.

“It’s higher than I believed,” Roberts stated. “And that’s an excellent factor for the Dodgers.”

The supervisor, nevertheless, acknowledged that Jansen’s dip in velocity over his final 4 outings is “not an excellent development.”

He stated it wasn’t the results of a bodily ailment. Earlier than Wednesday’s recreation, Jansen, in an effort to reverse the sample, frolicked engaged on his mechanics on the Dodgers bullpen.

Roberts insisted Jansen, probably the most adorned nearer in Dodgers historical past, “completely” stays the staff’s nearer. However he didn’t shut Thursday.

As an alternative, Graterol, the hard-throwing rookie right-hander, drew the ninth inning in a save state of affairs.

His first pitch was a 102-mph fastball. He threw 14 extra pitches to get the three outs and push the Dodgers a spherical nearer to a championship. They’re 11 wins away.