Kershaw wins 18th game as Grandal powers Dodgers past Giants 3-1

As the calendar runs out on the regular season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledges he has a lot of decisions to make before the playoffs begin.

He faces issues in the bullpen, is unsettled over his roster and may still juggle his postseason rotation. But one thing is already settled: Clayton Kershaw will get the ball in the opener of the division series next week.

Not there was ever any question about that.

“I mean he’s Kershaw,” catcher Yasmani Grandal said with a shrug. “There’s not much I can tell you that you don’t know.

“We all know he’s pretty special. Not many guys get to do what he’s done.”

In fact no Dodger pitcher has ever done what Kershaw did Sunday, when he struck out six in eight innings to reach 200 strikeouts for the seventh time in a 3-1 win over the San Francisco Giants.

Kershaw also coaxed the Giants into a season-high four double plays, lowered his ERA to major league-leading 2.21 and won for the 18th time, tied for the major league lead.

The victory moved the Dodgers to within one of their first 100-win season in 43 years. It also allowed them to maintain their one-game lead over the Cleveland Indians in the battle for baseball’s best record and the home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

“Some days,” Kershaw said with a smile, “it just kind of works out.”

Roberts has been preaching the importance of solid games as the Dodgers prep for the playoffs and Sunday’s game, played before an announced crowd of 46,432, was the kind he’s been hoping for. The Dodgers were flawless on defense, seven of nine starters had a hit, and Kershaw and reliever Brandon Morrow, who pitched a perfect ninth, did not walk a better.

Roberts credited Kershaw for that, too.

“With the group that we have … each day it should be a continual resetting in terms of the quality of baseball we play,” he said. “But yeah, a lot of times it does happen when Clayton takes the mound. We certainly fed off that and played a pretty clean game.”

Grandal certainly fed off it. He came into the game batting .082 with three runs batted in this month, but doubled that total in his first two plate appearances Sunday, driving in the Dodgers’ first run with a second-inning sacrifice fly, then delivering the deciding runs in the fourth with a two-run home run to dead center.

“I’ve always been confident in my ability. At times it takes a little bit more than confidence to get the job done,” he said.

“I guess it was my lucky day.”

Kershaw’s too — although he was lucky and good.

He wasn’t sharp, allowing eight hits — three to Hunter Pence — as the Giants put men on base in seven of his eight innings. But in four of those innings, he was saved by a double play.

“It seemed like the balls they hit hard, that they were on the ground. Thankfully guys were standing there,” he said.

The only mistake came in the eighth inning when he allowed a one-out home run to Mac Williamson, ending Kershaw’s bid for his first shutout of the season.

Because he is unlikely to pitch deep into his final playoff tuneup next weekend, this will mark the left-hander’s first season without a shutout since 2009. Kershaw had the last word, though, striking out Gorkys Hernandez with his final pitch to reach 200 for the season.

“It’s always fun to play those games,” Kershaw said. “Win a series and start to get a little consistent and get back on track a little bit. It doesn’t hurt.”

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Follow Kevin Baxter on Twitter @kbaxter11

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