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          What we learned: Clayton Kershaw has first scoreless playoff game

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          Kershaw's seventh-inning performance huge for Dodgers (1:19)

          Alex Cora says Clayton Kershaw did a great job getting through the seventh inning, which historically has given him issues in the postseason. (1:19)

          • David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior WriterOct 17, 2016, 03:56 AM
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            • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
            • Former deputy editor of Page 2
            • Been with ESPN.com since 1995
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          Clayton Kershaw was pitching for the fourth time in 10 days and delivered the best postseason outing of his career. Adrian Gonzalez hit a second-inning home run that would hold. It was just the second game in postseason history where the teams combined for one run with both getting three hits or fewer. The Los Angeles Dodgers held on and the National League Championship Series with the Chicago Cubs is tied. The fun has just started.

          1. Kershaw slays seventh-inning demons. Admit it, Dodgers fans, you thought it was gone. Kershaw's initial reaction seemed to indicate he thought Javier Baez's fly ball to deep center field was leaving the park. When Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts greeted Kershaw at the top of the dugout, his laugh was one of pure joy, because he thought it was out.

          You know the narrative. Some prefer to pretend it didn't exist. Since 2013, since the time he became the most dominant pitcher since peak Pedro Martinez, Kershaw had pitched into the seventh inning six times in the postseason. His numbers after the sixth inning in the playoffs: 4 IP, 12 H, 14 R, 5 BB, 6 SO. He had managed to complete the seventh just twice in those six opportunities. In the regular season since 2013, he had pitched seven or more innings in 85 of 114 starts, or 75 percent of the time. Only four out of those 114 starts had he started the seventh and failed to complete the inning. So, at least in the world of Kershaw, the seventh inning in the postseason has been a far different story from the seventh inning against the Padres in early June.

          That doesn't mean what has happened is predictive. Six games is a small sample size. Still, you don't think Kershaw's heart was beating a little faster that inning? You don't think Dodgers fans were sweating buckets when he walked Anthony Rizzo on four pitches to lead off the inning? You don't think that disaster appeared imminent when Yasmani Grandal then dropped Ben Zobrist's foul pop behind home plate?

          Unlike those previous postseason, Kershaw kept his cool this time. He struck out Zobrist looking on an 0-2, 94-mph fastball up and away. Addison Russell flew out to left field on a 1-1 slider. He threw Baez a 1-0 fastball, up and way, good location. The ball headed towards the ivy ... and settled gently into Joc Pederson's glove. "That was scary there," Kershaw said in his postgame TV interview. "Off the bat, I thought something bad for sure. I kind of had a ministroke there."

          He finally had that first scoreless start of his postseason career. Narrative: The Dodgers needed ace Kershaw, and they got him.

          2. Kenley Jansen is now a six-out closer. Roberts actually got Jansen up in the pen after that walk to Rizzo. After the Russell fly out, Roberts trotted out to the mound, clapping his hands, the universal sign for "Great job, big guy, that's a night." Kershaw remained in the game and retired Baez. Roberts did say he went out there with every intention to take him out, but Kershaw said, "I can get this, I can get this guy." He was at 84 pitches through Baez, but Roberts wasn't going to fool around. He went to Jansen, who faced six batters, threw an efficient 18 pitches, 16 for strikes, and fanned four batters. In the ninth, he fanned Kris Bryant on three pitches and got Rizzo on a soft liner to second base.

          3. Cubs bats are kind of struggling. To put it kindly. OK, not scoring off Kershaw isn't the end of the world, but in six playoff games the Cubs are hitting .193/.251/.361. They've had some dramatic rallies to pull out late victories, but there was some concern heading into the postseason whether the Cubs would hit good pitching. So far, they haven't. Rizzo is 1-for-23, Russell is 1-for-22, Jason Heyward is 2-for-18, Dexter Fowler is 4-for-24. Pitchers have hit two of their seven home runs.

          4. What it means to be tied 1-1 instead of down 2-0. I was surprised to see this stat: The past 25 times in the League Championship Series that a team went down 2-0, it lost 24 times, the exception being the 2004 Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees. So, yeah, the Dodgers needed this one. They have to feel good getting the split at Wrigley and heading home with a bullpen that wasn't taxed in Game 2.

          5. Everyone hates bunts! Couple of interesting bunt situations. After Rizzo walked, some questioned whether Zobrist should be bunting. On the Fox postgame show, Frank Thomas and Pete Rose had a heated discussion, with Thomas advocating for a bunt, and Rose asking why you would bunt with your cleanup hitter. I'm with Pete here. First, Kershaw had just walked a guy on four pitches. You don't want to give him a free out if he's potentially hitting a wall. Zobrist also had a .401 OBP against lefties. Of course, he's not a .401 OBP against Kershaw. Still, playing for a potential multirun inning there was the right decision.

          In the ninth inning, Yasiel Puig came up with two outs and on a runner on third. He tried to bunt for a hit and popped out. Twitter was outraged, I tell you! (Twitter hates bunts.) Anyway, certainly a bit of an odd choice. If he reaches, does Twitter still get outraged? The Dodgers would go 0-for-7 with RISP. And win.

          P.S. Baez turned a sweet double play.