11:44 PM ET

    ARLINGTON, Texas -- Forget the perception. Burn the narrative.

    Clayton Kershaw can pitch just fine in October, thank you very much -- and after his performance in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers are within three wins of their first championship in 32 years.

    Kershaw carved through the Tampa Bay Rays' lineup, retiring 17 of the final 18 batters he faced and leading the Dodgers to an 8-3 victory in Game 1 of the 116th World Series.

    Over six innings, Kershaw allowed two hits and one walk while striking out eight. His lone blemish was a Kevin Kiermaier home run that wound up being of little consequence, as the Dodgers' offense spent the middle innings tagging Rays pitchers with a complement of long balls and small ball.

    "Kershaw was dealing," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "You see why he's going to the Hall of Fame one day."

    A crowd of 11,388 stuffed the concourses at Globe Life Field with Dodgers jerseys, cheered the Dodgers' big moments and unleashed vociferous boos on a check-swing strike call. The prospect of a partisan crowd for the remainder of the neutral-site series gives the Rays another obstacle -- as if beating the team that went 43-17 in the regular season weren't enough.

    When Kershaw is pitching as he did Tuesday, the task becomes even more Herculean.

    "I mean, if we play at our best, no," Kershaw said after the game when asked if the Dodgers are beatable. "I think we are the best team, and I think our clubhouse believes that. So there's gonna be certain times where we get beat, and that happens. But as a collective group, if everybody's doing what they're supposed to be doing and playing the way they're supposed to, I don't see how that can happen."

    Rays batters swung at 38 of Kershaw's 78 pitches and whiffed on 19. All eight of his punchouts were of the swinging variety, with the last seven on sliders, and they moved Kershaw into second place on the all-time postseason strikeout list, with 201. Should the series get to a fifth game, Kershaw is likely to pass the leader, the Houston Astros' Justin Verlander.

    Although Dodgers manager Dave Roberts' instinct in past years has told him to send Kershaw out for the seventh inning, he resisted in Game 1 -- even though Kershaw had allowed just two hits, even though Kershaw had generated 19 swing-and-misses, even though Kershaw had struck out eight, even though Kershaw had thrown only 78 pitches.

    Kershaw pitched into the seventh inning in 13 previous postseason games. He allowed opponents to score in more than half of them -- 18 runs altogether.

    Roberts' decision was followed by the Rays' scoring a pair of seventh-inning runs and chipping away at Los Angeles' lead, but by that point, the Dodgers had flexed their offensive muscles in impressive fashion.

    Cody Bellinger, who hit the go-ahead home run in the Dodgers' Game 7 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series, blasted a two-run homer off Tampa Bay starter Tyler Glasnow in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie. Rather than perform a forearm-bash celebration that dislocated his shoulder in the NLCS win, Bellinger executed a light foot-tap with teammate Max Muncy.

    "I think I'll continue to do that," Bellinger said with a laugh. "Maybe my whole career. Who knows?"

    As much as the Dodgers love the home run, their ability to play small ball gave them their biggest inning.