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Recap: Dodgers 6, Blue Jays 2; Kershaw Wins, Grass is Green, Water is Wet

It was just one inning, but when the other team has the best pitcher on the planet on the mound, sometimes that’s all it takes. Los Angeles sent six men to the plate in a three-run third inning, with four reaching on a trio of singles and a fielding error by second baseman Darwin Barney. Many were quick to lay blame on the Blue Jays infield defense, but the Dodgers hit balls with exit velocities of 105, 70, 95, 99, and 109 miles per hour. While Darwin Barney and Troy Tulowitzki did their best to prove otherwise with an outstanding double play to end the inning, it’s not easy to defend against missiles. Other than the third, however, R.A. Dickey proved entirely up to the task and continued the Blue Jays’ early season trend of strong starting pitching. The knuckleballer allowed just four base runners over his other six innings of work.

The story of the game, as expected, was the man everyone came to see: Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw. In his first ever start against Toronto, the three-time National League Cy Young winner worked seven innings, allowing just a pair of runs while striking out ten Blue Jays. Entering action on Saturday, Toronto batters had a strikeout rate of 24% — the fifth worst mark in the league — but double-digit whiffs can be forgiven against the guy who struck out three hundred and one batters  last season.

Top Play of the Game by WPA

It happened early: with one out in the second inning, Dodgers centerfielder Joc Pederson took a 2-1 knuckleball deep into the Westjet Flight Deck. The pitch left Dickey’s hand at 73 but left the bat at 109 miles per hour, with an estimated distance of 434 feet to dead center field. In a game that never felt all that close despite being a relatively low scoring affair, the solo dinger swayed the odds in the favor of the Dodgers by just 10.8 percent. R.A. Dickey has done a good job of keeping the ball in the park this season, but the Pederson bomb makes it four allowed over his last three starts.

Bottom Play of the Game by WPA

After the Pederson home run gave Los Angeles the lead in the top half of the second, the Blue Jays looked poised to counter in the bottom half. Justin Smoak and Troy Tulowitzki notched back-to-back singles off Kershaw to lead off the inning, setting the stage for Michael Saunders. The left fielder took two well-placed fastballs for strikes, before holding off on a pair of low curveballs to even the count. Saunders received a third fastball on the 2-2 pitch, but hit a chopper off the plate that bounced straight to second baseman Chase Utley. The silver haired veteran applied the tag to an evading Tulowitzki, before tossing the ball to the first baseman to complete the double play. Smoak advanced to third and would later score, but the poorly timed double play grounder felled the Blue Jays chances by 11.7 percent.

Darwin Barney is Not the Worst

Just a few days ago, manager John Gibbons announced that Darwin Barney would be shifting from the bench to a platoon role at second base with incumbent starter Ryan Goins. Due to a pair of lefties sandwiching a Troy Tulowitzki off day, Saturday marked Barney’s third straight start at second. Despite the unenviable task of facing Kershaw, Barney made his third straight start his third straight multi-hit effort. While you don’t want to make too much of too little, it’s not hard to see Barney continuing to encroach on Goins’ turf while Devon Travis is on the mend.

Baseball Catcher Josh Thole Struggles to Catch Baseball

Over the first three years of his Blue Jays career, Josh Thole caught 772 innings across 110 games, a majority of which came with R.A. Dickey on the mound. He allowed a total of 22 passed balls — or one every 35 innings. Through 12 games and 90.2 innings here in 2016, he’s forfeited 7 (one every 13 innings). Backup catchers are all bad and catching the knuckleball is a challenge, but Thole needs to be better. As this kids would say: you had one job.

Up Next

The three game series with the Dodgers wraps up tomorrow, with a 1:07 PM first pitch between Ross Stripling of Los Angeles and the Blue Jays’ own Marco Estrada. Stripling, whom the Blue Jays have never faced, has completed the fifth inning in just one of his last three starts, and is coming off an extended layoff of seven days of rest. Rust could be a factor.

Lead Photo: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

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