SAN DIEGO — Clayton Kershaw quietly continued his march toward club history.
Cody Bellinger loudly continued his return to form.
Together, the two former MVPs led the Dodgers to a 10-2 win against the San Diego Padres on Sunday, with Kershaw pitching five innings of one-run ball — and collecting three strikeouts to move to within four of breaking Don Sutton’s franchise record — and Bellinger hitting two home runs in the rubber-match rout.
All eyes were on Kershaw to begin the day.
With 2,690 career strikeouts entering the game, the left-hander was within reach of breaking Sutton’s four-decades-old mark.
“Selfishly, I would want to see him do it today,” manager Dave Roberts said pregame. “Because if he punches out seven, then that’s a good thing for the Dodgers today.”
Even without a bunch of strikeouts, Kershaw was effective anyway, inducing mostly soft ground balls and weak pop flies to continue his strong start to the season.
In five innings, Kershaw gave up only four hits (all of them singles) and hit one batter. He escaped a jam in the bottom of the first, getting Jurickson Profar to hit into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners. He limited the damage after Wil Myers hit an RBI single in the fourth, stranding runners at the corners with a strikeout of Jorge Alfaro.
And though his pursuit of history had to wait, Kershaw will now have the opportunity to potentially eclipse Sutton’s mark at Dodger Stadium, when he is next expected to take the mound Saturday against the Detroit Tigers.
“For him to break that record at home, in front of his own fans, would be special,” Roberts said.
While Kershaw cruised, the Dodgers’ offense dominated.
Facing Padres left-hander Sean Manaea, the Dodgers opened the scoring with a Justin Turner sacrifice fly in the first. They made it 3-0 when Freddie Freeman hit a two-run blast in the third, which the first baseman celebrated by high-fiving his dad, who was seated next to the Dodgers dugout.
Then Bellinger delivered the knockout blows, hammering a solo home run to center field in the fourth and a three-run blast to right-center in the fifth.
It was his 14th career multi-home run game (the most in Dodgers history by a 26-year-old, according to ESPN). It was his seventh multihit game this season, raising his batting average to .273. And it gave him the team lead with four long balls through this season’s first 15 games.
On his way back to the dugout following the second blast, Bellinger was serenaded by the Dodgers’ strong contingent of visiting fans. Their chants: “MVP! MVP!”
It was the highlight of what was arguably the Dodgers’ most complete game at the plate this season. They not only had a big inning — they scored four runs in the fifth, their 11th inning of three runs or more this season — but kept Padres pitchers under constant pressure, plating at least one run in five of the game’s first six innings.
And combined with Kershaw’s strong start, it was more than enough to secure the team’s fourth straight series win.
