Clayton Kershaw pitched five scoreless innings in what could have been the final regular-season home start of his career as the Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 7-0 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants on Saturday while clinching a bye into the division series.
Kershaw, who said he has not yet decided on whether he will return for a 17th major league season in 2024, gave up two hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He has one more regular-season start remaining, next weekend at San Francisco, before the playoffs begin.
Mookie Betts drove in two runs for a MLB-record 105 RBIs from the leadoff spot as the Dodgers nailed down a top-two spot in the National League to avoid playing in the wild-card round of the playoffs. J.D. Martinez hit a home run and drove in three runs for Los Angeles.
The Giants were held to two hits while striking out 11 times as they fell four games out of the final wild-card spot in the NL with seven games remaining.
Martinez gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his 31st home run of the season and made it 3-0 in the third inning with a two-run double.
Los Angeles received an RBI double from Freddie Freeman and a run-scoring single from Max Muncy in the fifth for a 5-0 lead. It was the 57th double of the season for Freeman, who is trying to become the first player with 60 doubles since 1936.
Betts had a two-run double in the eighth to break a tie with the Colorado Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon for the leadoff RBI record.
Kershaw (13-4) gave up an infield single to Patrick Bailey in the third inning and a double to Marco Luciano in the fifth while making his 215th career start at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers relievers Joe Kelly, Michael Grove and Caleb Ferguson did not give up a hit with six strikeouts over the final four innings.
Giants right-hander John Brebbia (3-2) recorded the first four outs as the opener and took the loss after giving up Martinez’s home run.
–Field Level Media