Clayton Kershaw had an uncharacteristic performance in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ loss to the San Diego Padres in the series opener at Petco Park, and the night ended with the future Hall of Famer being mocked.
As the Padres celebrated their 5-2 win, a graphic on the video board included a Kershaw crying meme layered on top of it. The longtime Dodgers ace was not made aware of the incident or video that circulated on social media until Saturday morning.
Rather than chastise Padres game operations for the trolling, Kershaw put the onus on himself to pitch better in order to avoid being susceptible to such treatment.
When asked for his opinion on the Padres’ actions, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he could not discuss the matter but sided with Kershaw’s messaging, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
Roberts, meanwhile, declined to even engage such a discussion before the game, responding to a question about the meme of a crying Kershaw that flashed on the scoreboard Friday night by saying he was “surprised” but had been instructed not to comment.
Kershaw issued a season-high five walks and allowed four runs over just 4.2 innings. Fernando Tatís Jr. became the first player with multiple games of at least two homers off Kershaw.
“You can’t walk five guys. It’s unacceptable,” he said after the loss. “It’s not a good recipe to win games, so I’ll just try not to do that next time. … When you don’t have great command that makes it challenging no matter what.
“Usually it’s not something I have a lot of issues with, but tonight, didn’t really have a great feel. They do a good job. They don’t leave the strike zone, so you’ve got to give them credit too.”
Dodgers pick up Clayton Kershaw
The Dodgers responded from having their six-game winning streak snapped by taking the next two contests against the Padres to earn a series victory.
The Padres have not won a series against the Dodgers during the regular season since sweeping them at Petco Park from June 21-23, 2021.
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