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Daniel Murphy homers off Clayton Kershaw, leaves his branding on ball

Starting pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom were so good on Friday night, few batters were making contact at all, let alone squaring the baseball up. Together, Kershaw and deGrom became the first opposing starters to strikeout at least 11 batters each in a postseason game.

[Related: Mets win as Jacob deGrom tops Clayton Kershaw is strikeout fest]

One batter who did have luck though was Daniel Murphy. In the fourth inning, he crushed a solo home run off Clayton Kershaw that opened the scoring in the Mets 3 -1 NLDS Game 1 victory against the Dodgers.

And we do mean crushed. Just check out the mark he left on the baseball.

Look close. Murphy hit it so hard, his bat branded his name right on the ball.

The pitch was a 94-mph four-seam fastball from Kershaw. Murphy turned on it and squared it up perfectly.

According to Statcast, it all added up to an estimated exit velocity of 105 mph.

Thanks to the baseball landing in the Mets' bullpen, we're also able to see the impact such a swing can have on the baseball itself. Daniel Murphy may not have knocked the cover off it, but he certainly put his stamp on it. He'll also get to have it as a keepsake.

By the way, we should also note that wasn't the only baseball the Mets crushed on Friday. Lucas Duda inflicted some damage on a baseball and Dodger Stadium itself with a batting practice home run that nearly rearranged some signage.

The sign survived, but its new scar serves as a warning of what the Mets are capable of when they hit the baseball. Now the Dodgers better start hitting it too, or this could be another quick and disappointing playoff run.

BLS H/N: Cut 4

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!