The Los Angeles Dodgers traveled south for their first matchup of 2023 with the San Diego Padres with Clayton Kershaw on the mound, but he did not have his best stuff and labored during the game.
Kershaw only pitched 4.2 innings before exiting in a bases-loaded jam. He gave up four runs on eight hits, and also walked five hitters. “You can’t walk five guys,” Kershaw said after his loss.
“It’s unacceptable. It’s not a good recipe to win games, so I’ll just try not to do that next time.”
The outing doubled Kershaw’s season walk total as he entered the game with five in his previous six outings this year. Without his best stuff against a talented Padres lineup, Kershaw will quickly look to put that game behind him and move on to the next one.
“When you don’t have great command that makes it challenging no matter what,” Kershaw said. “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.”
Fernando Tatís Jr. carried the Padres lineup, hitting two home runs against Kershaw. Last season, the Padres were without their young star, but with the addition of him to their lineup, the Padres have arguably the best one-through-four combination in baseball.
“I mean, he’s good,” Kershaw replied when asked how Tatís impacts their lineup. “So probably just makes them a little better.”
Although the two home runs to Tatis were disappointing, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also looked at the walks as the most surprising issues from Kersahw’s start.
“I thought early on he was really sharp. I thought the fastball was good, I thought the slider was good. Everything played,” Roberts said. “He made two mistake location pitches to Tatís that he took advantage of. I think the thing that was most uncharacteristic was the walks. He doesn’t walk guys.
“Almost had a chance to get out of that fifth inning, but couldn’t convert that last play. That force play, he was probably safe anyway. I just felt that right then, that was it for him. I think the stuff was good, even in that fifth inning to get a couple strikeouts and was one pitch away against (Ha-Seong) Kim to get out of that inning.
“I think just uncharacteristic command. I don’t think he could command the fastball to the glove side like he typically does.”
Clayton Kershaw not worried about NL West race
The Dodgers are one game ahead of the Padres in the National League West standings, and many predict the division may come down to a tight race between the teams. But this early in the season, Kershaw isn’t too worried about the outcome of one game.
“Well, we’ve got about 130 more games, so not super important at the moment,” Kershaw said. “But yeah, we’d like to win.”
But with the Padres possessing a talented roster and after the 2022 season when they defeated the Dodgers in the NL Division Series, fans have shown up more often to Petco Park, which adds to the competitiveness of the matchups.
“It’s a good environment,” Kershaw said. “Definitely loud. It makes it more fun, I guess, when people are into it.”
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