The Dodgers’ ace lived up to his reputation as the game’s greatest pitcher with an improbable save on Thursday to close out the Nationals in the NLDS
Clayton Kershaw is the greatest pitcher of his time so why wouldn’t he want to finish one of the greatest playoff games in recent memory?
He stood in the Los Angeles Dodgers dugout in the eighth inning of Thursday’s already draining Game 5 of a draining National League Division Series against Washington and wondered how possibly the team’s closer Kenley Jansen could pitch three innings when he was accustomed to only throwing one. He had made 211 pitches in the previous seven days, just weeks after returning from a back injury that once threatened to end his season. In Tuesday’s Game 4 he had pitched seven innings. If there was one certainty in Game 5, it was that he wouldn’t be a part of it.
Related: Clayton Kershaw gets first major league save as Dodgers clinch spot in NLCS
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