Kershaw doesn't fight Mattingly's fateful move in another playoff defeat – 'I put myself in that spot'

LOS ANGELES – The seventh inning came for Clayton Kershaw again, a few steps ahead of Don Mattingly, out in front of another October defeat, the end coming this time when someone else threw the pivotal pitch.

He watched from the bench, 113 hard pitches in, his elbows on his knees, his sweat-sodden hair slicked from his forehead.

He'd been brilliant again for as long as he could, and it was not quite good enough again, because there were no runs to be had against Jacob deGrom, and because his own fly ball had been caught on the warning track, and because this stuff just keeps happening for him – to him – when the season restarts.

"I got outpitched," Kershaw said without prompting or whining or suspicion. "That's basically the moral of the story. … He outpitched me, plain and simple."

It's where October has gone for him, fair or not, justified or not. And for Mattingly, too, who invariably rides Kershaw for a pitch too long or abandons him a few pitches short, not based on data or circumstance but based on the fact the Dodgers can't seem to win in October with Kershaw on the mound, which makes no sense.

He's lost five in a row of these, the first four to the St. Louis Cardinals, then on Friday night against the New York Mets, 3-1, in the first game of the National League division series at Dodger Stadium. He stands with the best pitchers of his generation, and then a hit falls, or a curveball hangs, or his offense strikes out 13 times in seven innings against deGrom, and he's been outpitched again, or out-flanked, or out-numbered.

"I don't know," he said. "Just, um, each game's a little bit different. Didn't work out this time."

He struck out 11 Mets, 11 of the first 20 he faced, those through the fifth inning. In the fourth, cleanup hitter and left-handed batter Daniel Murphy pumped a two-ball fastball into the right-field bullpen. It seemed that alone would be enough to beat the Dodgers behind deGrom, who rode a fastball that clocked routinely at 97 and 98 mph. Often, he skipped it across the top of the strike zone, where Dodgers' bats strayed.

Still, Kershaw, pitching from that deficit, struck out five of the next seven Mets. He required five pitches to navigate the sixth inning. His pitch count was at 88 after six. So, manageable, certainly for him. DeGrom's was at 101. For the first time in a postseason game, each starter had struck out as many as 11 batters, and the game took on the chill of a proper first date, contact being minimal and not terribly meaningful.

"I wouldn't say I got caught up in it," deGrom said. "I know what he's doing, but my gameplan stays the same. Let's go up and put up zeroes and keep us in a position to win."

He issued a single walk, which was intentional. He allowed five hits, none damaging. He threw 121 pitches on a hot and humid night, all of them with the score 0-0 or 1-0. He struck out Adrian Gonzalez three times, twice with runners on base. He took this series to a place where the Mets could win it without returning to Los Angeles.

In his second big-league season, deGrom is three months younger than Kershaw, who is eight years in, more than 1,600 innings in, and well-trophied. The paths were different. The mound for a few hours was the same, and it was to that mound Kershaw strode for the seventh inning, the Mets ahead by a run, the Dodgers still seeking the thunderbolt swing that would turn the game and Kershaw's fortunes.

David Wright would be the sixth batter of the inning, should it get that far, and assuming the bottom of the Mets' order had enough game in it. On the Dodgers' bench, Mattingly thought that if the seventh reached Wright, he would go to his bullpen. Pedro Baez, the right-hander with the big fastball, would be his man there.

"David pumps on lefties pretty good," Mattingly said. "Felt like that was going to be a spot if we got to that point, thought we were going to make a move there."

It was the seventh, after all. The inning that went sideways for Kershaw in Game 1 of the division series against the Cardinals last season. The inning that beat Kershaw in Game 4 of that same series, the one that ended the Dodgers' season.

A year and a couple days later, Lucas Duda walked. Michael Cuddyer grounded out and then Ruben Tejada walked on a full-count slider that was high and loose. DeGrom bunted them to second and third. And then Curtis Granderson walked on a full-count fastball that was a couple inches outside.

Mattingly came out of the dugout. The choice was Kershaw, three walks in, eight years of excellence in, at 113 pitches. Or Baez, maybe the fourth-best reliever in the bullpen, at no pitches. The crowd was squishy about it. Kershaw turned on the mound, disappointed, but handed over the ball without a fight.

"I put myself in that spot," Kershaw said. "So not much room for argument."

Wright watched the change from the on-deck circle. He'd not had a hit against Kershaw, but had taken him to a 12-pitch walk in the first inning. Then he'd struck out twice, but competitively, if that counts for anything against the likes of Kershaw.

"I think normally you'd be pleased because you get Kershaw out of the game," he said. "Then you look up and you have a guy coming in throwing a hundred. So then you're not too pleased."

Cuddyer, who'd faced Baez before, offered a quick report on the new pitcher. So did Kevin Long, the hitting coach. The first five pitches ran the count full. There'd be one more pitch to stay within a run of deGrom and the Mets, and catcher A.J. Ellis thought it through. He liked Baez better on Baez's arm side, so a big fastball on the inner half to Wright, which is generally where it was when Wright pushed a line drive into center field, scoring two runs, running deGrom's lead to 3-0, which would be more than enough for the Mets, and just enough to beat Kershaw.

That's how it happened again, how he was outpitched or outlasted or out-thought this time, how it came to be that someone else threw the pitch that would matter in the end. How it keeps coming to this. How it keeps finding all of them.