The Dodgers are one win away from advancing to the NLCS for the third year in a row, and per usual, the big story of the night was Clayton Kershaw.
There was a lot of chatter before the game about whether Kershaw should have started Game 1 of the series, as the Dodgers instead opted to ride the red-hot arm of Hyun-Jin Ryu. All Clayton did was go out and go longer into a postseason game than he ever had before—eight full innings of two hit ball.
Kershaw started the game allowing a first-pitch leadoff double to Ronald Acuna Jr, who was eventually stranded at third. Clayton retired the next 14 batters before Ender Inciarte muscled an infield single in the fifth. He looked good, inducing a lot of soft contact despite only striking out three.
For their part, the Dodgers once again took the lead early. Joc Pederson hit a leadoff double, was moved over to third on a Justin Turner groundout, and was brought home when Manny Machado hit a home run to left. Yasmani Grandal padded the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run to right-center field.
Although it appeared Kershaw would go the distance, Kenley Jansen appeared in relief in the top of the ninth. He allowed a one-out single to Acuña before retiring the next two batters to secure the win.
The Dodgers have held the Braves scoreless through two games, and they send arguably their best pitcher to the mound Sunday in Atlanta in Walker Buehler.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Is anyone really surprised? We are supposed to beat these guys and we did. They may win one at home, but the Dodgers are the better team and as long as they don’t cough up the hairball we all know they they are capable of we should close them out before a Game 5.
I still have doubts about Jansen. He looks ok when he hits his spots – but he misses too often. In a tight game, against better hitters, I don’t trust him. Not yet anyway. Maybe next time out he cleans it up. Hope so.
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I agree Scoop. I was at the game last night and everyone in the stands was holding their collective breath when Kenley came in. That said, he got Freeman on a great pitch to end the game and there aren’t a lot of hitters better than Freeman. The problem with Kenley doesn’t seem to be that he’s lost his stuff, but rather his inconsistency. You never know from one pitch to the next which KJ will be throwing that pitch. Adds substantially to the excitement of the game but not to the likelihood of winning it.
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At the game. Wow. I haven’t been “at the game” since the day they clinched in SF.
Part of Jansen’s stuff is his ability to hit the corners with that cutter. Over the middle of the plate it isn’t that hard to make contact. That pitch to Freeman was right where it was supposed to be. On the edges. That’s how Kershaw got through 8.
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