Heisey's Grand Slam Leads Kershaw, Dodgers, Past Diamondbacks
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Clayton Kershaw struck out nine batters Thursday to move his season total up to 281.
That is the most strikeouts in a season by an MLB pitcher since Randy Johnson tallied 290 in 2004.
The Cy Young Award candidate was only able to pitch five innings, but thanks to Chris Heisey's grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning, Kershaw left the game in line for the win.
The Diamondbacks started the scoring off early as Yasmany Tomas drove in a run with an RBI single in the second inning.
Paul Goldschmidt then continued his dominance of the Dodgers in the third inning with an RBI single, and in the fourth inning, Brandon Drury put the D'backs up 3-0 with a solo home run.
Howie Kendrick got the Dodgers on the board in the fifth inning with a two-run single, which was ultimately followed up by Heisey's grand slam, to put the Dodgers up 6-3.
Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly used Juan Nicasio to pitch the sixth inning, J.P. Howell and Yimi Garcia to pitch the seventh, and Chris Hatcher to pitch the eighth.
Kenley Jansen entered for the ninth inning to close the game and record his 34th save.
The win moved the Dodgers magic number to 4, however, with the Giants losing in San Diego, the Dodgers magic number is now 3.
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