Dodgers cap Clayton Kershaw’s farewell with a win, clinch postseason spot

LOS ANGELES — Don’t make it weird.

That was Clayton Kershaw’s demand from his teammates, leading into his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium. They didn’t – though Kershaw might have thought otherwise when they hung back in the dugout at the start of the game, leaving Kershaw alone on the mound to soak up one of many ovations Friday night.

But they did make it memorable.

Displaying the vulnerability of his final seasons but also the competitive will that will carry him to Cooperstown, Kershaw took the mound at Dodger Stadium for the last time – for now, perhaps forever – and gave up a leadoff home run, walked six and survived into the fifth inning only so that Dave Roberts could give him the proper exit, taking the ball from him and sending him out to a standing ovation followed by a curtain call.

That’s when his teammates did him a real solid. Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run home run followed immediately by a Mookie Betts home run in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Dodgers came from behind to beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3.

Kershaw didn’t get the win, but the Dodgers did and clinched a playoff spot for the 13th consecutive season (and 15th in Kershaw’s 18-year career).

Coupled with a San Diego Padres loss earlier in the day, the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West division title outright is four. They also hold the tiebreaker over the Padres.

Kershaw is likely to make his final regular season start next weekend in Seattle depending on how the Dodgers handle their starting rotation after clinching the division – which seems inevitable now.

But Kershaw’s announcement Thursday that he would retire following this season made Friday’s game crackle with the feel of a celebratory sendoff. Former teammates Austin Barnes, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Trayce Thompson, A.J. Pollock – and Matthew Stafford – were all on hand for the game. Only the balloons and sheet cake were missing from the retirement party.

Heliot Ramos didn’t read the room.

He clubbed an 0-and-2 slider from Kershaw into the left-field pavilion to start the game. Things stayed less than storybook through four innings. Kershaw walked four batters, gave up three more hits – but only one more run.

Baserunners in every inning pushed his pitch count to 84 after four innings, more than he had been asked to throw in 14 of his previous 20 starts this season.

But Roberts sent him back out for the fifth inning, using the Giants’ next scheduled hitter, left-handed Rafael Devers, as pretext to get Kershaw to the mound one more time. Kershaw got a favorable strike three to retire Devers – the 3,045th strikeout victim of his career – and was surrounded by his teammates on the mound, Roberts pausing near the third-base line to let the moment breathe.

As Kershaw headed to the dugout, the ovation swelled and he gestured toward his family’s box, sending them hugs and kisses by pantomime. Moments later, he emerged from the dugout for a curtain call, tapping his chest and waving his hat to the crowd.

It was an early exit from his own party. But Kershaw’s teammates sent him off with a parting gift in the bottom of the inning, a four-run burst via the Ohtani and Betts homers. Miguel Rojas – a rookie third baseman on the field for Kershaw’s no-hitter 11 years ago – added a double to his second-inning home run and scored on Andy Pages’ double in the sixth.

Having ruined enough moments recently, the Dodgers’ bullpen didn’t mess with this one, allowing one run over the final four innings.

More to come on this story.