Dodgers Tie 2016 NLCS Behind Kershaw And Gonzalez

Dodgers Tie 2016 NLCS Behind Kershaw And Gonzalez

Clayton Kershaw and Adrian Gonzalez gave outstanding  performances during Game 2 of the 2016 National League Championship Series (NLCS) at Wrigley Field, beating the Cubs 1-0. Kershaw pitched a 7-inning shutout while Adrian Gonzalez scored the game's only run with a solo home run.

Kershaw was perfect through four innings, retiring the first 14 batters he faced. He is now tied with Jerry Reuss (Gm2, '81 NLDS) and Koufax (Gm 1, '63 WS) for longest no-hit bid by a Dodger pitcher in the postseason (4.2 in.)

It wasn't until the fifth inning that he allowed a runner to reach base when he gave up a pair of two-out singles. The next time a Cub would reach base was in the seventh inning when Kershaw gave up a four-pitch leadoff walk to Anthony Rizzo.

That walk earned him a mound visit by Dodger manager Dave Roberts. According to latimes.com, on that visit, Kershaw told Roberts, "We've got this guy. I can get this guy." Roberts looked him in the eye and asked "Yeah?," which Kershaw then answered, "Yeah!"

Apparently, that exchange was enough to convince Roberts to keep Kershaw in the game. He powered through the seventh inning before handing the ball over to Kenley Jansen to finish off the last two innings.

Another Dodger who played well in Game 2 was Adrian Gonzalez , who now has a six-game hitting streak in the postseason. His solo home run came in the second inning against the regular-season ERA leader, Kyle Hendricks. With that homer, the Dodgers have now homered in all seven postseason games this season -  the third longest streak in franchise history.

Game 3 will be played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

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