Even though the Los Angeles Dodgers are without Matt Kemp, and even though Andre Ethier can only pinch-hit, they still have Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig. Oh, yeah. They have a guy named Clayton Kershaw who’s probably going to win the NL Cy Young Award this year. Kershaw fanned 12 Braves over seven innings of work as the Dodgers took game one of the NLDS by a score of 6-1.
The Dodgers broke through against Kris Medlen in the second. With one out, Puig and Juan Uribe singled. Skip Schumaker hit a sac fly to center to make it 1-0. A. J. Ellis followed with a double that left fielder Evan Gattis couldn’t quite get to, to drive in Uribe and make it 2-0. The Dodgers would double their lead to 4-0 in the third after Carl Crawford reached on a single and Adrian Gonzalez, two batters later, hit a home run to center.
The Dodgers kept the pressure on in the fourth. Ellis doubled and Crawford walked. Mark Ellis would drive in A.J. with a single to make it 5-0. The Braves would get their lone run in the bottom half. With one out, Freddie Freeman singled and Gattis walked. Two batters later, Chris Johnson singled in Freeman.
The Dodgers last run came in the seventh on a Hanley Ramirez RBI double.
Player Of The Game: Kershaw
Game two of the series is at 6:07 Friday on TBS. Zack Greinke will take on Mike Minor.