Cody Bellinger, Dodgers Take 2-0 Series Lead with Game 2 Win vs. Padres

The Los Angeles Dodgers are now one win away from their fourth National League Championship Series in five years.

Wednesday's 6-5 victory over the San Diego Padres at Globe Life Field in Game 2 of the NL Division Series proved once again just how dominant L.A. is—and how much further a young San Diego team has to go.

The Dodgers have now outscored the Padres 11-6 through two games.

Los Angeles starter Clayton Kershaw continued his strong start to the postseason with a quality start in the victory. The Dodgers ace entered the day with a career NLDS record of 5-4 with a 3.99 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 79 innings.

The Padres are still looking for their first NLDS victory since 2006.

Notable Performers:

Clayton Kershaw, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 0 BB

Corey Seager, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers: 4 AB, 3 H, 2 RBI

Cody Bellinger, CF, Los Angeles Dodgers: 4 AB, 1 H, 1 HR

Zach Davies, SP, San Diego Padres: 5 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 3 K, 0 BB

Manny Machado, 3B, San Diego Padres: 4 AB, 1 H, 1 HR

Tommy Pham, DH, San Diego Padres: 4 AB, 2 H, 1 R

Kershaw Continues Dealing for Dodgers

It might be time to stop asking if this is the postseason Clayton Kershaw breaks through and just enjoy the work he's putting in regardless.

The October narratives that have followed him his whole career have become even less relevant in an MLB season unlike any other.

Kershaw proved again why he's the Dodgers ace on Wednesday with his second quality start of the postseason while continuing to put his team in a position to win. The lefty has now gone 14 innings with 19 strikeouts, one walk, and three earned runs on nine hits. His October 2020 ERA is 1.93 and his WHIP 0.71.

It's Kershaw's best postseason run since he compiled a 2.63 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 13.2 innings in 2015.

Not even his blemishes Wednesday could come back to haunt Los Angeles.

Kershaw gave up two straight hits to start the second inning with a Wil Myers double driving in Tommy Pham from second base. He then struck out two of the next three batters and forced Jurickson Profar into a groundout back to the mound.

After Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer launched back-to-back homers to start the sixth inning, the veteran stayed in and got three straight outs from Pham, Myers and Jake Cronenworth.

The four-seam fastball Kershaw has relied on throughout his career sat at 91.7 miles per hour, per Baseball Savant, while producing six whiffs and seven called strikes. Overall, he needed just 87 pitches to get through six frames with 62 going for strikes. Only three would cause any harm to the Dodgers, and it was nothing the L.A. offense couldn't remedy.

Graterol's Glove Flip

The irony of Brusdar Graterol throwing his glove across the infield after getting Fernando Tatis Jr. out to end the top of the seventh inning is how poorly the one-pitch at-bat went for the reliever. It wasn't that Graterol threw a good pitch to the shortstop.

He didn't.

The 99 mph sinker to the outside had the speed but no break, hanging in the air long enough for Tatis to blast it to straightaway center field and over the wall. It was only a perfectly timed jump and the outstretched glove of Cody Bellinger that stopped the Padres from taking a 5-4 lead.

Maybe it was because of the grab, maybe it was just the excitement of the moment. Either way, Graterol couldn't help but dance his way back to the Dodgers dugout, tossing his glove in celebration.

Whatever the reason, it didn't sit well with Manny Machado. The San Diego third baseman immediately started shouting at Graterol and his teammates, appearing to tell the hard-throwing right-hander "I'm waiting for you," as he left the field.

Machado had just hit a home run in his previous at-bat to spark a potential Padres comeback, excitedly tossing his bat to fire up his teammates in the process. To see him get angry with Graterol for doing the same only added to the playoff intensity.

Graterol called him down quickly in the top of the eighth.

With Machado back up to bat, and L.A. up 6-3, the reliever tossed him an 0-1 sinker inside that went back up the middle for an easy groundout. Graterol needed just six pitches to escape his second frame, and he pounded his chest on his way back to the Dodgers dugout once more.

This time the Padres were quiet.

What's Next?

Game 3 of the NLDS is set for Thursday at 9:08 p.m. ET on MLB Network. No starters have been announced yet.