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Kershaw Leads Dodgers Past Rays 4-2
Monday, October 26, 2020

ARLINGTON – As Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts strolled to the mound with two outs in the top of the sixth inning, a chorus of boos rained down from the crowd at Globe Life Field. Even though this was Game 5 of Major League Baseball's first neutral-site World Series, Dodgers fans have overrun the stadium, and they let their feelings be known: They did not want Roberts to remove Clayton Kershaw from the game. Roberts did not abide, and as Kershaw strode off the mound, it was to a sound too often unfamiliar to him in October: cheers. If ever there was a postseason to huzzah the Dodgers' left-hander, of course, this is it, and his plenty-solid performance in Game 5 laid the foundation for the Dodgers' 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. The win, on the heels of the Dodgers' brutal Game 4 loss a day earlier, gave L.A. a 3-2 advantage in the series and put them one victory shy of their first championship since 1988. They can lock up a title in Game 6 on Tuesday night. If this was Kershaw's last appearance in the 2020 postseason there's a good argument that it's his finest playoffs yet. His shakiness in Game 5 evened out in the middle innings and by the time Roberts yanked him, Kershaw had retired eight batters in a row to gussy up a final line of 5⅔ innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. In total, he has thrown 30⅔ innings in these playoffs, allowed 23 hits, walked 5 and struck out 37 with a 2.93 ERA and four wins. Mookie Betts ripped a leadoff double off Rays starter Tyler Glasnow. Corey Seager plated him with a single and Cody Bellinger's two-out infield single scored him, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 advantage. Joc Pederson's home run in the second extended it to 3-0. Kershaw passed Justin Verlander for the most strikeouts all time in the postseason with 206.



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