The Los Angeles Dodgers had their three-game winning streak snapped Tuesday, which included losing Brusdar Graterol to a hamstring strain, but Clayton Kershaw bounced back from a worrisome start at Petco Park last week.
The outing against the San Diego Padres was the first time in Kershaw’s career he did not collect at least one strikeout in a regular-season start. It snapped his record streak at 423 regular-season starts. It was the longest such streak since the mound was 60 feet, six inches in 1893.
Kershaw vowed to re-evaluate and improve, and he needed to face all of one Philadelphia Phillies batter to tally a strikeout.
“Really, the first one and this one tonight, I felt pretty good overall,” Kershaw said after the game. “I just made some dumb mistakes tonight. A couple guys got on base 0-2, which shouldn’t happen, so those are frustrating. But overall, I think it’s another good step in the right direction.
“Now I’ve just got to figure out how to maintain my pitch count. Obviously, my pitch count will keep getting hire, but you’ve got to find a way to get through at least five (innings), and hopefully six or seven at some point. Just kind of fine-tuning everything, but tonight there were some good parts, for sure.”
Kershaw had 10 swings and misses, a marked increase from just two against the Padres.
“I think just overall, my stuff was a little better tonight. A little crisper. I had better fastball location, was probably the biggest thing,” Kershaw noted.
“I was able to kind of put it where I needed to for the most part. Still some mistakes and ones I want back, but overall it was a good building block.”
Another key for the left-hander was getting ahead in the count. He allowed five hits but held the Phillies to just one run when encountering some trouble in the fifth inning.
“The Phillies are a good team, so you try to be on the attack as best you can. I just think I had better command tonight. I think I was able to kind of put some pitches where I needed to,” Kershaw said.
“Overall it was better command-wise, for sure.”
Clayton Kershaw throwing changeup
One notable development for Kershaw so far in his return is seemingly having better command of a changeup.
“Well, wanting to throw it and having a feel are two different things,” he said. “I do feel like I have the ability to throw it now. It was just the one time tonight, but I think potentially moving forward I’ll be able to use it a little bit.”
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