The Dodgers kicked off the weekend with a four-game series against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. They dominated the first three games, with Dodger’s ace Clayton Kershaw scheduled for the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
The first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX, had a rough start when he pitched in Colorado last week. Though, now it appears that he had worked out all the kinks as the matchup got underway in front of a crowd of 42,633 fans.
The Dodgers held a 1-0 lead for most of the game. Unfortunately, the team’s offense was not able to bolster Kershaw’s performance and ultimately lost 4-2. Padres’ second baseman Jake Cronenworth singled in the top of the ninth inning to start a rally. Incidentally, Dodgers closer Craig Kimbrel was hit between the shoulder blades by a comebacker with an exit velocity of 100.5 MPH during that same at-bat.
Despite the turn of events, Dodgers’ Manager Dave Roberts was happy for his starter when speaking to the media after the game.
“It was really good to see,” Roberts stated. “With not having a good one in Colorado, to come back and do what he did today. Give us seven innings, lot of strikeouts, no walk, allowed us to kind of manage the pen today. Really good outing by Clayton. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put them away at the end there.”
Kershaw dominated against the Padres for seven shutout innings, exiting the game with a 2.57 ERA. The southpaw left the Padres scoreless with just four hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts. He summarized his outing in the postgame interview.
“I had like a base runner there for the first three innings, had to work out some stuff. And then after that, settled in a little bit better. I think it’s just maybe you know the first batter of every inning is important. And so I think just maybe putting a little more focus on getting that first guy out. It’s tough to score if you get the first guy out in the inning, so try to really focus on that and have better results.”
The All-Star break is only a couple weeks away. Naturally, with a better outing under Kershaw’s belt, talks of an All-Star slot surfaced. Roberts would love to see his ace considered, but is well aware of Kershaw’s stance.
“When you’re talking about (the) All-Star Game, he certainly should be in the mix,” Roberts explained. “Like I said about a week ago, he definitely doesn’t do charity. So he wants to earn his right onto the team. But when you’re talking about performance in the first half and expecting him to continue to pitch well, having it being at Dodger Stadium for him to represent the Dodgers and Major League Baseball would be great for everybody to see. But like I said, it would be great to have that honor for Clayton.”
Kershaw confirmed that sentiment when the same question was posed to him after the game.
“I’d love to be honored to be able to play, but I also don’t want to take anybody’s spot that is more deserving. You know it’s at Dodger’s Stadium, I’ve been here a long time, I get all that. But I don’t want to take anybody’s spot that’s more deserving than me, especially if that guy is on my team,” explained a humble Clayton Kershaw. “If it worked out, it would be great. I’d love to.”
There are only twelve more games until the mid-summer classic. That is plenty of time for the six-time All-Star pitcher to complete a couple more starts to prove what Dodgers fans already know – that their beloved “Kersh” is worthy of a seventh All-Star nod.
Even though the weekend finished on a bittersweet note, Kershaw had an excellent outlook to share.
“You know we had a great series. I think obviously we would have loved to win this one. But three out of four against the second-place team is important. And we’ll take that.”
The Dodgers continue to lead the NL West division and are still ahead of the aforementioned second-place Padres by 3.5 games. Here’s to the Boys in Blue continuing to dominate…
Let’s go Dodgers!