LOS ANGELES — Anticipation consumed the higher a part of his previous eight months, and pleasure coloured the higher a part of his previous few days. Then, within the third inning of his first begin again at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, Clayton Kershaw encountered a sobering actuality: two runs on the scoreboard, two runners on base, no person out.
It triggered a well-recognized feeling: survival.
“There’s some a part of it,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned, “the place you simply default to having gone via that — and it is not about your first begin again, it is not about how you’re feeling. It is about getting an out and getting out of that inning and minimizing harm. Folks which have been in these sorts of battles have that to fall again on. That was his solely thought in that second.”
Kershaw got here again to document three consecutive strikeouts, limiting harm, setting the stage for one more Dodgers victory — this one by a 6-4 rating over the division rival San Francisco Giants — and offering an encouraging sign up his return from shoulder surgical procedure.
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Kershaw restricted the Giants to simply the 2 runs in a four-inning, 72-pitch outing that noticed him scatter six hits and stroll two batters. It was an unremarkable pitching line, marred, in Kershaw’s thoughts, by missing fastball command. However that third-inning sequence confirmed that the Kershaw the Dodgers have identified over these previous few years — the one who can dominate largely with a fastball-slider mixture that not often exceeds 90 mph — continues to be in there.
“He is the identical, actually — from the beginning of the sport to the top of the sport,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes mentioned. “I feel that is considered one of his higher traits. He does not let off the fuel. He is the identical man. He retains coming at you.”
Kershaw, at occasions, had a troublesome time getting his fastball in on opposing right-handed batters Thursday, however he displayed a pointy slider, used his crazy curveball to maintain hitters off steadiness and even flashed just a few changeups, the pitch that has famously eluded him. All instructed, he generated 14 swings and misses and struck out six batters, none larger than within the prime of the third, which started with 4 consecutive hits however ended on three consecutive punchouts — on a low-and-in slider that scooted previous Patrick Bailey, a middle-middle curveball that froze David Villar and an in-the-dirt slider that fooled Thairo Estrada.
Kershaw obliged the early exit then watched as Nick Ahmed — launched by the Giants two weeks in the past — and Shohei Ohtani supplied back-to-back homers to place the Dodgers on prime within the eighth inning, capping a 6-1 homestand popping out of the All-Star break. It was a a lot happier event than what met Kershaw the final time he took the mound at Dodger Stadium — in Sport 1 of the Nationwide League Division Collection on Oct. 7, when he was charged with six runs and recorded just one out, setting the stage for a surprising sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Kershaw’s first arm surgical procedure — a process to restore the glenohumeral ligaments and capsule in his left shoulder — adopted on Nov. 3.
Uncertainty hung over him then.
Gratitude enveloped him now.
“To have the ability to get again on the market at Dodger Stadium is one thing I’ve considered for a very long time,” mentioned Kershaw, 36. “It meant so much. It meant so much. Ellen and the children had been right here too. They had been so excited. There’s lots of people in right here that spent a variety of time with me to assist me get again, and other people again house as effectively to assist. This was actually cool, that lots of people cared a lot to assist me. And for me personally to return out and pitch right here at Dodger Stadium undoubtedly — not that I ever did earlier than, however I am not going to take that without any consideration once more.”
The Dodgers introduced Kershaw again close to the top of a star-studded offseason, on the heels of including Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Kershaw was seen then as a luxurious. He has since developed right into a necessity. The Dodgers entered the All-Star break with a significant league-leading 15 gamers on the injured record, a lot of them extremely achieved beginning pitchers.
Glasnow returned from the IL on Wednesday, however he’s already nearing a profession excessive in innings. Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler are anticipated to rejoin the rotation in some unspecified time in the future throughout the subsequent couple weeks, however there’s uncertainty about how they may carry out. Yamamoto is rehabbing what has been recognized as a strained rotator cuff and has but to get again on the mound.
The Dodgers want an efficient Kershaw — now, as a lot as ever.
“If that is the ground,” Roberts mentioned, “then we’re in for a enjoyable journey with Clayton this yr.”
