Shohei Ohtani hit his 39th home run of the season, leading the National League, and Clayton Kershaw pitched six shutout innings to guide the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
Miguel Rojas and Gavin Lux each recorded three hits as the Dodgers, leading the NL West, secured their seventh win in their last 10 games.
Lux praised Kershaw’s performance: “Every time I play defense behind (Kershaw), you know you’re playing defense behind a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
Lars Nootbaar hit a pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning for the Cardinals, who have lost six of their last seven games.
Ohtani’s home run came on a first-pitch offering from Sonny Gray in the fifth inning, breaking a scoreless tie. Rojas later contributed with a run-scoring single in the same inning.
Kershaw (2-2) allowed four hits, struck out two, and threw 70 pitches. This was his longest outing of the year by innings since returning from shoulder surgery in November. It marked his season debut on July 25.
Kershaw commented on his performance: “I got a lot of groundballs that kept the pitch count down. It gave us what we needed today.” He noted he feels better now than he has in a long time, adding, “I don’t even remember what it felt like to not have my shoulder hurt. It’s nice to wake up and everything feels good. It’s a good feeling.”
This start was Kershaw’s first scoreless outing since September 23, 2023, when he pitched five shutout innings against the Giants.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts remarked: “He stepped up and did what he always seems to do. He commanded the fastball on both sides of the plate.”
Michael Kopech earned his 11th save, his second with the Dodgers, by delivering a scoreless ninth inning and getting Nolan Arenado to hit into a game-ending double play.
The Dodgers won two out of three games in this series and concluded a 4-3 road trip. They had split four games with NL Central-leading Milwaukee.
Rojas highlighted the importance of these games: “It’s good for us that we have to play under pressure. It’s going to be beneficial for us going down the stretch. We need to win games like this.”
Sonny Gray (11-8) allowed two runs and seven hits over five innings, striking out six.
Nootbaar added: “There’s still a lot of time left. We kind of hold the future in our own hands in terms of that we play a lot of games against our division still left.”
