Clayton Kershaw couldn’t throw his curveball for a strike. Largely as a result, the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn’t force a Game 7 in the National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers left-hander threw 15 curveballs against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night, and those 15 pitches resulted in one strike.
Kershaw lacked command of the curve in Game 2, also. He threw nine and got three strikes.
Without the curveball working, Kershaw was reduced to a two-pitch pitcher and the Cubs were allowed to sit on fastballs and sliders. The Cubs were 7-for-21 with two home runs against those two pitches in Game 6. They were 1-for-21 in at-bats ending in those pitches in Game 2 of the NLCS.
Location
Kershaw threw 40 percent of his pitches in the horizontal middle of the plate, his second most in a start this season. Three of the hits Kershaw allowed were on pitches in that zone, including two doubles.
The Cubs swung and missed on 10 percent of Kershaw’s pitches, his second-lowest rate in a start this season. Interestingly, the lowest was 8 percent in Game 2 of the NLCS.
Usually, keeping the ball down is a good strategy. But the Cubs demolished Kershaw on pitches low in the zone or lower, going 6-for-13 with two home runs in at-bats ending on pitches in that location. The Cubs were 1-for-10 in such at-bats in Game 2 of the NLCS.
Untimely poor outings for Kershaw
After posting a 4.98 ERA in his first eight career postseason starts, Kershaw had been much more effective since last October. He had a 4.98 ERA in the postseason through 2014, but was at 3.34 entering Saturday’s start.
Saturday was Kershaw's fifth start with his team facing elimination. He has allowed at least five runs in three of those starts.
