With Clayton Kershaw on the mound Thursday night, the Dodgers should rightly feel confident in Game 1 of the NLDS. But the southpaw in his wonderful career has yet to beat the Braves.
Not that Kershaw has pitched badly against the Braves. He has a 2.45 ERA in four starts, with 35 strikeouts and 10 walks in 29⅓ innings. The flip side is that Kershaw also hasn't lost to Atlanta, with no-decisions in all four starts.
But not only did Kershaw not pitch against the Braves this season; he hasn't started against the Braves since 2011.
Kershaw only has one career start at Turner Field, and that came on Sept. 4, 2011. He struck out 10 in seven innings but got stuck with a no-decision after seeing his shutout bid ruined with three runs in the seventh inning, including two earned runs. Kershaw finished his Cy Young campaign in 2011 with a 0.96 ERA over his final nine starts, and that start in Atlanta was the only game he didn't win during that span.
Kershaw has good to excellent career numbers against nearly every Braves player he has faced, though on the current roster only four Atlanta players have more than four plate appearances against the left-hander. One of those is Dan Uggla (1-for-12, one walk, six strikeouts against Kershaw), and he was left off the NLDS roster.
Here are the career numbers against Kershaw for Braves on the NLDS roster:
- Justin Upton: 3-for-29 (.103), double, triple, two walks, nine strikeouts
- Paul Janish: 2-for-11 (.182), walk
- Chris Johnson: 1-for-12 (.083), double, four strikeouts
- Freddie Freeman: 1-for-2 (.500), home run, two walks
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Jason Heyward: 0-for-4 (.000), four strikeouts
- Jose Constanza: 1-for-3 (.333)
- Reed Johnson: 1-for-3 (.333)
- Jordan Schafer: 0-for-3 (.000), three strikeouts
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Gerald Laird: 1-for-2 (.500)