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Trouble with the curve: Kershaw can’t follow script
- Updated: October 23, 2016
CHICAGO — For Clayton Kershaw, narrative met reality in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.
After making so much progress this postseason to erase the notion that he can’t pitch in October, Kershaw showed up to Game 6 without a curveball, and the Cubs made him pay. They coaxed 93 pitches in Kershaw’s five fruitless innings on Saturday, scoring in four of those frames on the way to a pennant-clinching, 5-0 win at Wrigley Field.
Game Date Matchup Highlights Gm 1 Oct. 15 CHC 8, LAD 4 Gm 2 Oct. 16 LAD 1, CHC 0 Gm 3 Oct. 18 LAD 6, CHC 0 Gm 4 Oct. 19 CHC 10, LAD 2 Gm 5 Oct. 20 CHC 8, LAD 4 Gm 6 Oct. 22 CHC 5, LAD 0 • NLCS coverageShop for postseason gear: Cubs | Dodgers
The Cubs are going to the World Series. Kershaw and the Dodgers are going home.
“Tough to swallow tonight, obviously, but I’d much rather be in this situation and fail than not be in this situation at all,” Kershaw said. “As much as this does hurt, and as much as I would have liked to win tonight, I’m really thankful to be on a team that has got to be in the postseason four years in a row, and really thankful for that group in the clubhouse that has your back in these situations, and thankful I get to come back next year and try again.”
Six days earlier on the same field, Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 Dodgers win in Game 2. Saturday was different. Dexter Fowler led off the bottom of the first inning with a double, Kris Bryant smacked a sharp single and Kershaw was in a 1-0 deficit after seven pitches. After Dodgers left fielder Andrew Toles dropped a fly ball for a costly error, Ben Zobrist’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0 as Kershaw logged his first out.
Fowler singled home another run in the second inning and Willson Contreras and Anthony Rizzo hit solo home runs in the fourth and fifth, respectively.
• Game 6 breakdown: Cubs get to Kershaw
Before he could throw a pitch in the sixth, Kershaw’s outing, and his injury-interrupted season, was over. He fell to 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA in five career …
