SAN DIEGO — On the 23rd pitch of his night, Clayton Kershaw got his first swing-and-miss. On his 81st, he got his second. Before, after and in between, the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers ace found himself amid something unprecedented for his storied career.
Through his first 423 career regular-season starts, Kershaw had never completed a start without striking out at least one batter. According to ESPN Stats and Info, that was the longest such streak since the mound was moved to 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893.
That was snapped Wednesday night when Kershaw — making his second big-league start since undergoing shoulder surgery last winter — induced the San Diego Padres into just two swings-and-misses. He walked off the Petco Park mound with seven runs (three earned) to his tally. For the second time in three starts, including Game 1 of last season’s NLDS, Kershaw had completed his night without striking anyone out.
That start in October came with diminished velocity and command from an injured shoulder in dire need of repair. Wednesday’s outing came from a surgically repaired shoulder from a future Hall of Famer looking to find his way back.
“There was a lot of things I was missing,” Kershaw said after the Dodgers’ 8-1 loss, their fourth defeat in their last five games, to drop their division lead to its lowest point since May 4 (4 1/2 games). It capped off the first full losing month (11-13) the franchise has seen since April 2018 and coincided with a torrid stretch from a resurgent Padres club.
Clayton Kershaw speaks on his performance tonight and what he was missing. pic.twitter.com/S1RC9hruQB
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This is not the same Kershaw who took the mound in October at Dodger Stadium, as his rebounded velocity (he topped out at 92.4 mph) showed. But this is still uncharted territory for a three-time Cy Young winner coming off the first arm surgery of his career at 36 years old.
When the Dodgers signed Kershaw this spring, it was supposed to be a luxury. As their starting pitching has crumbled, he’s become a necessity. But as Kershaw works to rediscover himself after repairs to the capsule and glenohumeral ligaments in his left shoulder, he’s still an uncertainty.
His first start, four innings of two-run ball (with eight swings-and-misses) against the San Francisco Giants, was encouraging. Wednesday was a step back.
“Just wasn’t executing,” Kershaw said. “Wasn’t throwing really anything what I wanted to, where I wanted to. Frustrating overall.”
“We couldn’t really find any swing-and-miss,” catcher Will Smith said.
A surging Padres club was positioned to take advantage. A well-executed hit-and-run brought home the first run on a Luis Campusano RBI single in the second; another run came across when Bryce Johnson bunted a ball back to the mound that Kershaw bobbled before he could flip it to the plate for a sure out. A soft grounder brought home another, and Jurickson Profar laced a slider below the zone for a run-scoring single to score the fourth run of the frame.
“You don’t see the slider, them getting under the slider, and really elevating it like they were tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It speaks to the teeth of the slider tonight, to go along with the lack of swing-and-miss.”
The barrage continued in the fourth. Campusano pummeled another slider below the zone into the Western Metal Supply Co. building for a solo shot. Hard and soft contact trickled through. A Gavin Lux error extended the inning. A Xander Bogaerts sacrifice fly pushed across another run. When Roberts came for the baseball after 83 pitches, the velocity had already retreated to around 90 mph.
Kershaw said he felt fine physically. “I didn’t think there was rust, but maybe,” he added.
“There’s a lot you can overanalyze when you pitch bad,” Kershaw said, “but for right now I’m just going to say it was bad and try to pitch better the next one.”
The Dodgers’ rotation needs are clear, even after swinging a deal Tuesday to acquire the best pitcher moved at the deadline in Jack Flaherty. Tyler Glasnow is already in new territory when it comes to innings pitched. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is only just now expected to start throwing off a mound after straining his rotator cuff. Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller are still trying to sort themselves out. Rookies Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski have shown well, yet their inexperience in October prompts further questions.
Kershaw’s status remains among the most important for a club whose slide has coincided with the fourth-worst ERA (5.36) of any team in baseball in July.
“I think it’s hard to ever bet against Clayton,” Roberts said. “The last one I thought was very good. And tonight just wasn’t great. I think he’ll be the first to say that. But it’s part of the process. I just don’t think that anyone can expect him to come back and be lights out every start out, certainly after two starts.”
(Photo: David Frerker / USA Today)
