They might have, if Pedro Alvarez had not roped a line drive over the head of first baseman Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 win on Friday. On Kershaw’s wild pitch, McCutchen to third. Two potential Cy Young candidates (including the owner of three of the last four) faced off, as Clayton Kershaw and Gerrit Cole took the hill for their respective teams.
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I was looking forward to watching tonight’s Dodgers-Pirates game because Clayton Kershaw was coming into his start having thrown 37 consecutive scoreless innings. Kershaw almost got out of the jam with two quick outs, but then walked Chris Stewart to force in a run, the latter on a six-pitch at-bat that saw two laughable strike calls, including one ball dropped by catcher Yasmani Grandal. Morse lined out and Sean Rodriguez struck out, but Kershaw struggled with Chris Stewart, falling into a 3-0 hole.
Kershaw needed only 27 pitches to get through three innings, but the next two frames were a nightmare. Pederson doubled to right.
An inning later, Kershaw hit Starling Marte with a pitch, gave up an RBI double to Andrew McCutchen and an RBI single to Aramis Ramirez.
Both starting pitchers left after six innings. He stole second and Rollins doubled him in to tie the score at 4. Liriano pitched his way out of several jams in beating Minnesota10-4 with three runs given up on ten hits in 5.2 innings. The 23-year-old has six on the season. Kershaw, who won his previous four starts, gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings with two walks and five strikeouts.Kershaw raised his season strikeout total to 197, leaving him three shy of a sixth straight season with at least 200. Kershaw had not allowed a run since July 5 against the New York Mets.The major league record for consecutive scoreless inning is 59, set by Orel Hershiser in 1988 with the Dodgers.It was just the second-longest streak by a Dodgers pitcher this year as right-hander Zack Greinke went 43 2/3 innings a row without allowing a run. Yasiel Puig moved from right field to between first and second base, but the remaining outfielders did not shift to the right side against the pull-heavy hitter. Ar.Ramirez singled to right, McCutchen scored. The Dodgers managed six hits and walked five times with Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick driving in two runs each while Joc Peterson scored twice.
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These two clubs are at it again on Saturday afternoon, a 1 p.m. PT start. Dodgers 2, Pirates 1.
