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Kershaw struggles in Game 6 as Cubs inch closer to pennant

Jerry Lai / USA TODAY Sports

It wasn't entirely Clayton Kershaw's fault - there was an error sandwiched in the middle - but the left-hander wasn't able to get the job done with the Los Angeles Dodgers' season on the line in Game 6 of the NLCS.

Kershaw was rocked right from the start Saturday, as Kris Bryant knocked Dexter Fowler home with an RBI single before he could record an out. The inning was prolonged by left fielder Andrew Toles, who muffed a routine fly ball that put runners on second and third with nobody out; by the time Kershaw finished the first it was 2-0 for the Chicago Cubs at a very loud Wrigley Field.

The damage continued an inning later when Fowler - who owns a career .409 average against Kershaw in the regular season - laced an RBI single. Willson Contreras added a homer of his own in the fourth. Anthony Rizzo seemingly put the game on ice with a fifth-inning solo shot into the right-field bleachers that sent Wrigleyville and the entire Chicagoland area to new heights of ecstasy.

Andre Ethier pinch hit for Kershaw with two out in the sixth inning, ending the three-time Cy Young winner's night, and potentially his 2016 season.

Kershaw allowed five runs (four of them earned) on seven hits while striking out four over his five innings of work. He allowed an extra-base hit in five consecutive innings for the first time in his storied career, according to ESPN's Jayson Stark. It's just the fourth time, and first since 2014, that he's allowed five extra-base hits in one game.

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