Cutters, Kershaw crush Straphangers in Game 7 to win second World Series title

Clayton Kershaw capped a dominant postseason run with his second shutout of the World Series for Hoboken in a 12-0 blowout of Sardine City in Game 7. It's the second DMBL World Series title in five years for the Cutters, who came back from a game down for the third consecutive round.

Hoboken becomes the fifth franchise to win more than one title (Newark, Arkansas, Vancouver and Marietta/Jerusalem are the others).

Kershaw (6-0) struck out 12 and walked 1 in a two-hitter, throwing 85 of his 119 pitches for strikes (71.4 percent). The left-hander  didn't allow a baserunner until the 6th inning when he issued a two-out walk to No. 9 hitter Joc Pederson. He gave up two-out singles in the 7th and 8th innings to Javy Baez and Kurt Suzuki, respectively, but struck out the side in both innings, including the last four batters of the game, finishing off the Straphangers with a strikeout of Addison Russell, who pinch-hit for Corey Seager.

By the time David Ortiz homered to lead off the 4th inning in his final DMBL game (he announced his retirement before the season), the Cutters had the game well in hand, up 8-0.

Hoboken broke it open in the 2nd inning, getting to Sardine City starter Joe Ross with four straight hits. Adrian Beltre followed a Brad Miller single with a double to set up a two-run single by Adam Eaton before Curtis Granderson homered to clear the bases for a 4-0 lead.

Matt Joyce later doubled but Ortiz was walked intentionally in front of Miguel Cabrera, who popped out to end the inning.

The Cutters chased Ross in the 3rd. Yasmani Grandal and Miller led off with singles and after Beltre struck out, Eaton singled to load the bases. Granderson delivered a two-run single down the left-field line for a 6-0 advantage and that was it for Ross. Jimmy Nelson got the call to try to keep the Straphangers in the game. He got Ben Zobrist to ground to out 2nd base, scoring Eaton, before he struck out Joyce to end the inning, trailing 7-0.

Hoboken piled on more runs in the 5th but it could've been even worse. Granderson had the third consecutive single to start the inning, scoring Beltre, before Zobrist grounded into a desperately-needed double play to plate Eaton. Nelson got Joyce to line out to left to end the 5th, down 10-0.

In his first postseason appearance for Sardine City, Jose Berrios started the 6th inning, getting Cabrera to ground into a double play to erase a single by Ortiz. Grandal singled, then scored on a double by Miller, who came home on a single by Beltre. Eaton grounded out to end the 6th, with Hoboken up 12-0.

Ross (1-1) lasted just 57 pitches, going 2 1/3 innings and getting pounded for 7 runs on 9 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 1. Nelson went 2 2/3 innings in relief, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits, with 2 strikeouts. Berrios mopped up, going 3 innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 runs in his first postseason appearance.

The 12-0 pounding was the largest margin of victory this postseason and the largest in the playoffs since San Francisco shellacked Hoboken 14-0 in Game 4 of the 2014 World Series.

Granderson led the 19-hit onslaught for Hoboken, going 4-for-4 with 5 RBI out of the 8-hole. Zobrist was the only starter without a hit. Three Cutters had three hits apiece -- Miller, Beltre and Eaton -- with Miller and Eaton scoring a team-high 3 runs. In his final game, Ortiz was 2-for-4 with a solo homer and intentional walk. Hoboken stranded just 5 base runners. Sardine City finished with 2 hits, leaving 3 men on base. Their hottest postseason hitters, Christian Yelich and Tyler Flowers, each struck out three times.

Hoboken outscored Sardine City 33-21 in the series, including 19-1 in the final two games, and held the Straphangers scoreless over the last 15 innings of the series.

The Cutters scored 85 runs in the 19 games (4.47/game) batting .247/.324/.415 overall, with 23 home runs. In the finals, no Cutter had more than 1 home run and most padded their stats in Game 7. Eaton had a team-high 7 runs and led the squad in batting .563/.611/.813. Ortiz had a team-high 11 hits, batting .407/.484/.667 and a team-leading 4 doubles. Granderson and Beltre had a team-best 5 RBI in the finals as the team slashed .280/.349/.420. The pitching staff went 11-8 with a 3.23 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in the postseason and in the finals compiled a 3.05 ERA and 1.06 WHIP.

Hoboken struggled against lefties, namely Norris, batting .218/.344/.244 but had some bright spots in Beltre (.444/.500/.556) and Wilmer Flores (.429/.556/.429). The Cutters batted .309/.352/.503 against righties.

Sardine City scored 70 runs over 17 games (4.11/game), batting .236/.292/.420 with 25 homers but was much stronger versus right-handers (.282/.334/.513) than lefties (.131/.199/.208). In the finals, Sardine City batted .221/.274/.355 with Pederson blasting 3 of the team's 6 home runs (slugging a pair in Game 3) and leading the team with 4 RBI. Suzuki was the best hitter, .364/.364/.545, and Yelich led the team with 7 hits but cooled off with a .259/.333/.333 line. The Straphangers were held to .146/.219/.229 and 4 RBI against Hoboken's left-handers while batting.274/.315/.444 and 17 RBI versus righties.

Straphangers' pitching went 10-7 with a 3.59 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in the postseason, and were a little worse in the World Series with a 4.72 ERA and 1.52 WHIP.

The 3rd-seeded Cutters came back from a game down in each round of the playoffs, winning six straight elimination games. Hoboken played the maximum 19 games in the three rounds, the most since Marietta played 18 games en route to the 2009 title. The franchise won its first title in 2013, which they also clinched on the strength of a shutout, when Kyle Lohse shut down Philly in Game 5.