14K gold: Shutout, winning hit for Kershaw

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers needed Clayton Kershaw to play the role of stopper Sunday afternoon — and did he ever. Not only did Kershaw put a halt to Los Angeles’ six-game losing streak, he tossed a three-hit shutout, struck out 14 and provided the offense as well in a 1-0 victory over San Diego.

Even by Kershaw’s lofty standards, this was a brilliant performance. The Dodgers ace surrendered just three singles in his 13th career shutout. Only two of the 27 outs he recorded even reached the outfield.

“That’s as dominant as I’ve seen him,” manager Dave Roberts said. “As prepared and as much conviction as he has every fifth day, knowing what we were going through as a team, you talk about great players putting their team on their backs. That’s what he did today. He won’t say that, but that’s exactly what happened.”

Of course, the Dodgers had to score to get Kershaw his victory, and he took care of that himself, knocking in the lone run of the afternoon with a third-inning single. It marked the eighth time in his career that Kershaw has recorded an RBI during a game in which the Dodgers’ opponent was held scoreless.

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The Padres got an extremely impressive effort from their own southpaw, Drew Pomeranz, who lowered his ERA to 2.48 with seven innings of one-run ball. It’s been a fantastic start to the season for Pomeranz, who didn’t clinch his rotation spot until the final week of Spring Training. On Sunday, Pomeranz said he made one mistake, a cutter that A.J. Ellis launched to center field for a double. Ellis would score on Kershaw’s RBI.

“There’s not really much to say,” Pomeranz said. “I threw a bad pitch to Ellis and Kershaw bounced one up the middle, and that’s the game, I guess.”

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