Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw Downplays Win Over 'It's a Game in August'

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw held the stance he took before the Dodgers' series against the San Diego Padres, keeping his eyes on October.

The Padres fell against the Dodgers in the opening game of their all-important three-game series, as Kershaw pitched six innings of one-run baseball. The only Padres run while he was on the mound came through a Ramón Laureano solo shot in the top of the second.

“It’s August. You try and treat every day the same,” Kershaw said. “Then hopefully the situation just helps magnify everything. It’s a game in August. It’s not that huge of a deal. But the way we were going, it felt like a big game for us and thankful that we got a win.

”It’s gonna be a fun six weeks. The Padres are gonna be right there, we’re gonna be right there. We have a lot of games against them the next 10 days, obviously. You know — the division isn’t won or lost in the next 10 days. But it will make an impact. We know that. It’s just — I don’t know how to say it and not sound cliche, but we just gotta keep playing. There’s just nothing else to do. We can’t put any more on any less on it. Just keep playing the games. And just hopefully our talent and our team will take over, which we know it will.”

The Padres have battled back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the division this season, trailing the Dodgers by nine games on July 3. Since then they have gone 23-13, and are now even at the top of the NL West with the Dodgers.

A large part of their run came after the trade deadline, where they made three All-Star additions, as well as Laureano. They have gone 9-4 since July 31.

Saturday's matchup is huge for the Padres, as a win would guarantee they leave the series at least even with the Dodgers at the top of the NL West at the end of the weekend. They have Dylan Cease on the mound for the contest, who has struck out 20 Dodgers batters across his two starts against them this season.

They will hope they can re-find their form after last night and regain sole possession of first on Saturday. The game begins at 6:10 p.m. PT.

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