Rozner: Cubs drop tough one as Kershaw slams door

So much for the short series.

The Cubs had hoped they would get a tired Clayton Kershaw in Game 2 after a stirring victory in the opener, with a chance to take a big lead to the West Coast and take out the Dodgers in four or five games.

But Kershaw, the best pitcher in baseball, pitched like it, and now you can settle in for a long NLCS.

Kershaw tossed 7 scoreless innings on only 84 pitches and Kenley Jansen came on to record 6 quick outs as the Dodgers grabbed Game 2 at Wrigley Field Sunday night with a 1-0 victory.

That's playoff baseball. Great pitching wins out nearly every time and it was obviously the case again Sunday night.

"You expect this kind of game in the postseason," said Anthony Rizzo. "Some of them go your way. This one didn't."

Kershaw gutted it out on only two days' rest after a relief appearance Thursday and kept the Cubs off the board, having now thrown 19⅓ innings in 4 games over 10 days, and in the process putting to bed the talk of his playoff failures.

"No one here cares about that narrative. I know he's tired of hearing about it," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "I'd take him over any pitcher in the game and so would 29 other managers."

While the Dodgers drove Kyle Hendricks' pitch count up in the early innings, Kershaw faced little resistance from the home team. The closest the Cubs came to denting the scoreboard was a foul home run by Rizzo onto Sheffield Avenue in the fourth.

"It's a 1-0 game and one swing can change it," Rizzo said. "Have to be ready to swing."

Kershaw pounded the zone with first-pitch strikes, giving the Cubs no chance to work counts and fatigue the Dodgers' starter, who pitched three times against Washington last week.

"If you go to the plate intending to see pitches against him, you're gonna be gone in 3 pitches with a strikeout," said Miguel Montero. "The guy was just throwing strike after strike. You have to be ready to hit."

The Cubs started to make consistent contact in the fifth, but with two on and two out, Jason Heyward went after an 0-1 fastball high and inside and popped weakly to third to end the threat.

"I think we had a good approach going in and we hit the ball hard a few times," Montero said. "We just couldn't string anything together and get anything going. But they didn't either."

Hendricks departed in the top of the sixth with two on and one out, having allowed 4 walks and 3 hits on 91 pitches, the only damage a second-inning, opposite-field home run into the first row by Adrian Gonzalez on a good pitch that Gonzalez managed to barrel.

Kershaw finally started to hit the wall in the seventh when he issued a leadoff walk to Rizzo on 4 pitches, but with two outs Kershaw talked Roberts into letting him face Javy Baez, who hit a deep drive to the center-field wall to end the inning.

"Six or seven outs is a lot to ask (of Jansen) and I didn't want him to have to sit down in the dugout more than once," Kershaw said. "I thought I could get (Baez) out. I came really close to not doing that."

The other pitcher the Dodgers were worried about was Jansen, the closer who threw a ridiculous, career-high 51 pitches in Washington Thursday before running out of gas and giving way to Kershaw.

This time it was Jansen's turn to save the game and he breezed through eighth on only 10 pitches (9 strikes), looking fresh as can be despite admitting to lower body fatigue after his heroic effort in the Dodgers' series-winning victory.

Jansen then needed only 8 pitches to get through the top of the Cubs' order in the ninth.

So the Cubs dropped a tough one, but played well and pitched well. They lost to a pair of great pitchers and leave Chicago having given up home-field advantage, looking to former ace Jake Arrieta against Rich Hill to put the Cubs back out front in Los Angeles Tuesday night.

"A homer was the difference. That's how it goes sometimes," Montero said. "You always expect it to be a challenging series. The Dodgers are a great team.

"But we believe in our team and we'll be ready to go Tuesday."

This time, fortunately for the Cubs, they won't see Clayton Kershaw.

At least, they hope not.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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