Los Angeles: The sun had started to set on Dodger Stadium as the trio left the bullpen, yet the heat still clung to Chavez Ravine like a cloak. Clayton Kershaw walked shoulder to shoulder through the swelter with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and catcher Austin Barnes. An ovation greeted the pre-game procession. Ten seasons in the major leagues, and four consecutive Octobers filled with regret, had braced him for this night.

Neither of his companions dared speak to Kershaw as they approached the dugout. He craves silence in these moments, the final minutes before he can stand in the middle of a ballpark and anaesthetise his opponents. On Tuesday evening, in a 3-1 victory over Houston in Game 1 of the World Series, Kershaw fulfilled his mission and brought his team three wins away from a championship.

“I don’t think there’s a more competitive person than Clayton,” Barnes said. “When he’s got his stuff, he just out-wills people.”

After 28 seasons without the World Series in Los Angeles, Kershaw authored a performance fit for an earlier generation, striking out 11 Astros across seven innings of one-run baseball in a game that lasted two hours and 28 minutes.

To numb the Houston bats, Kershaw flung fastballs that clocked in the mid-90s, snapped late-breaking sliders and spun immobilising curveballs. He walked none. He permitted three hits, one of them a solo home run by Alex Bregman in the fourth inning. He survived a scare in the seventh inning, his postseason house of horrors. He struck out 10 or more for the fifth time in his playoff career and delivered a stinging rebuke to those who question his performance at this time of year.

“He’s still Clayton Kershaw,” outfielder Enrique Hernandez said. “He’s still the best in the game.”

The praise for Kershaw overflowed from the Dodgers’ clubhouse. “A special night,” manager Dave Roberts called it. The performance was “his masterpiece,” fellow pitcher Brandon McCarthy said. Kershaw was “unbelievable,” said Justin Turner, who provided a go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth inning.

On Tuesday, Kershaw benefited from homers by Chris Taylor and Turner to outlast Astros ace Dallas Keuchel. Taylor ambushed Keuchel’s first pitch of the game. Turner launched a two-run blast that just cleared the fence in left to snap a deadlock.

— Los Angeles Times