CHC@LAD: Kemp blasts a two-run shot to right-center
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have made a lot of noise with the front office recently, trading for five players to make a run for the postseason. However, that playoff run ultimately falls on the shoulders of the team’s two homegrown superstars, Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp, as Los Angeles is most successful when they are at their best.
On Saturday, the pair showed just what they are capable of doing by leading the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Cubs.
Kemp provided the offense with an opposite-field, two-run homer in the fourth with L.A. trailing, 1-0. Kershaw did his part as well, tossing seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball to allow relievers Ronald Belisario and Kenley Jansen to close out the game.
The team remains a half-game behind San Francisco in the National League West but now stands 2 1/2 games ahead of third-place Arizona with the victory.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner appears to have rebounded nicely from his July 24 start against St. Louis when he gave up eight runs in 5 2/3 innings. He shut out the Giants in his last outing and he looked sharp on Saturday against a Cubs team that entered this three-game series 19-12 in their last 31 games. The Dodgers have taken the first two games of the series and look for a sweep with newly acquired Joe Blanton making his debut on Sunday.
Kershaw surprisingly needed to be at his best on Saturday despite facing Chris Volstad, who was 0-7 with a 7.94 ERA and winless in his previous 20 starts dating to last season.
Volstad allowed only two runs on six hits and proved to be a formidable foe for Kershaw by throwing seven strong innings of his own.
However, Kemp’s home run off him in the fourth proved to be all the Dodgers would need to guarantee an L.A. series win.
Mark Ellis led off the bottom of the frame with a single into right field and Kemp followed it up with a shot to right field that bounced in and out of the glove of a leaping Joe Mather to give the Dodgers and Kershaw a 2-1 lead. It was Kemp’s team-leading 16th home run of the season.
Alfonso Soriano hit an RBI double in the top half of the inning that scored Darwin Barney, who reached on a single and advanced to second on a groundout.
The Dodgers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Shane Victorino, who led off the inning with a double, scored on a ground ball hit by Hanley Ramirez that slipped past the glove of shortstop Starlin Castro.
Alex Angert is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
