The dream season came to an end for the Los Angeles Dodgers last night in Game 6 of the NLCS behind ace Clayton Kershaw. It was a terrible outing for Kershaw, who gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits and lasted only four innings.
The Dodgers offense didn't help any and after exploding for six runs Wednesday night in Game 5, it went back into hiding. LA mustered only two hits Friday—a Carl Crawford infield single to lead off the game and an A.J. Ellis double in the sixth—in a must win game and could never recover from Kershaw's brutal third and fifth innings. Kershaw threw 48 pitches, surrendering four runs, in the third inning alone and failed to record an out in the fifth before manager Don Mattingly finally had to pull the plug.
The Dodgers offense needed Kershaw to be perfect just to have a chance—Los Angeles scored a total of zero runs for Kershaw in his two NLCS starts—and he was miserable. It was a 9-0 loss, but even a 1-0 deficit seemed insurmountable for this offense.
Had the Dodgers won, Hyun-Jin Ryu likely would have started Game 7 for a chance to play the winner of the Red Sox-Tigers series in LA's first appearance in the Fall Classic since 1988. Unfortunately they couldn't get past Game 6, so the Dodgers won't be going to the World Series.
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