LOS ANGELES — Starting pitchers Merrill Kelly of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers had their backs to each other in the outfield while they were long-tossing before the opener of their teams’ National League Division Series.
“He kind of gave me a little acknowledgment, and I gave it back,” Kelly said.
Then Arizona’s lineup went out and clobbered the veteran Dodgers ace in the first inning on the way to an 11-2 victory for Kelly and the Diamondbacks on Saturday night.
Gabriel Moreno’s three-run drive highlighted a six-run first for Arizona, which also got homers from Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Tommy Pham. Kelly used the support to beat the Dodgers for the first time.
“I’m watching our guys beat up on one of the best pitchers that we’ve ever seen in our lives,” the 34-year-old Kelly said, “and watching them do it in the first game I’ve ever pitched in the playoffs.”
Kelly came in with an 0-11 record and a 5.49 ERA in 16 career starts against the Dodgers.
“I felt if I gave those games any attention, I was going out there behind the eight-ball before I even stepped on the mound,” he said.
Kelly limited the NL West Division champions, the league’s No. 2 seed, to three hits in 6 1/3 innings, the last one leading off the third on Miguel Rojas’ single. He retired 11 in a row during one stretch.
“We just never really had a chance to get to Kelly,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He was attacking us and making us put the ball in play, and we just couldn’t do it.”
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Monday night in L.A.
The Dodgers’ loss tied for the fifth-largest postseason defeat in franchise history. They’ve now lost Game 1 of an NLDS in two of the last three years.
Kershaw staggered through the worst start and shortest of his 16-year career. The three-time Cy Young Award winner got tagged for six runs and recorded just one out in the 100th postseason game at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s just embarrassing really,” Kershaw said. “I just feel like I let everybody down.”
He walked off the mound with his head down. He sat down in the dugout, removed his cap and buried his face in his hands.
“I don’t think anybody in the baseball world was expecting that,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said.
Kershaw dropped to 13-13 with a 4.49 ERA in the postseason, compared to 210-92 with a 2.48 ERA in the regular season.
He gave up a leadoff double to Ketel Marte after the ball went off the glove of center fielder James Outman. Corbin Carroll followed with an RBI single, making it 1-0.
Tommy Pham singled to left, and Christian Walker doubled off the base of the bullpen gate for a 2-0 lead. Pham finished with four hits.
Moreno came up next and belted a three-run shot to left.
Kershaw retired Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a grounder to shortstop, needing 26 pitches to get the first out of the inning. He became the first starting pitcher in MLB postseason history to allow five hits and five runs before recording an out, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Kershaw then walked Thomas. That set up Evan Longoria’s RBI double to left-center, extending Arizona’s lead to 6-0 and leaving the crowd of 51,653 in stunned silence.
Rookie Emmet Sheehan replaced Kershaw, and the sixth-seeded Diamondbacks promptly tacked on three more runs in the second. Carroll homered to right, Gurriel had an RBI double and Longoria had a sacrifice fly.
Thomas added a solo shot in the seventh, and Pham went deep in the eighth for an 11-0 lead.
Arizona rapped out 13 hits. The only player who batted for the visitors and didn’t get on base was Geraldo Perdomo, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
“I just think this team was very focused,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We talked about what our game plan was going to be, and I watched this group go out and execute it to a T.”
Kershaw’s early exit made it a bullpen game for the Dodgers, who struggled with starting pitching in the regular season. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May were lost for the year with right elbow injuries, while Walker Buehler was ruled out from making an early return after Tommy John surgery. Julio Urías was placed on paid administrative leave last month because of domestic violence allegations.
That left Kershaw as the only starter still standing, but the Diamondbacks ensured he didn’t last long.
Miguel Castro issued back-to-back walks to Mookie Betts and Freeman in the eighth, and they scored on Will Smith’s triple into the right-field corner — the Dodgers’ first hit since the third inning — to trail 11-2.
Betts, Freeman, J.D. Martinez and Max Muncy were the first four players in Dodgers history with 100-plus RBIs in the same season. But Betts, Freeman and Martinez were the only ones who got on base, all via walks. Muncy was hitless in four at-bats with a strikeout.
Arizona is in the postseason for the first time since 2017, when it was swept by the Dodgers in three games.
“Our guys are hungry,” Lovullo said. “I don’t think they’re feeling a ton of pressure. They just went out there and did what they do best, and the way they prep is what showed up for me.”
The 84-win Diamondbacks, a distant second to the Dodgers in the West standings, were coming off a sweep of the favored Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card round. The Dodgers had been idle since finishing off a 100-win regular season in which they earned their 10th NL West title in 11 years.
Right-hander Zac Gallen will start Game 2 for the Diamondbacks on Monday against rookie right-hander Bobby Miller of the Dodgers. Gallen, a 17-game winner, gave up two runs and five hits over six innings against Milwaukee this past week. Miller won three of his final five regular-season outings.