Dodgers lose Clayton Kershaw but win unlikely game over Arizona to expand lead

PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ night had already descended to an unenviable place Friday night before Joe Kelly decided to try one last time to pick off Corbin Carroll. It didn’t work. A run scored on a rare disengagement violation. But with Kelly’s pitch count at 40 for the first time in seven seasons, it was a last gasp at a third out.

Manager Dave Roberts left Kelly in for two more batters and 46 pitches, Kelly’s most in a game since he was still a starter. Roberts had little choice as he furrowed his brow and ran his hands through his hair. A long night was brewing. Alex Vesia was warming, but he didn’t want to use him yet. It was difficult to rummage through the pieces to get through the rest of Friday night otherwise. After all, it was still just the third inning. This was what nobody wanted.

“There was a lot of things that weren’t part of the plan,” Roberts said.

It was also a game the Dodgers somehow won. A 10-9 victory that was 3 hours and 13 minutes, a game they and the Arizona Diamondbacks would like to forget.

The Dodgers have played a prolonged stretch of meaningful baseball this time of year. They’ve largely benefitted from it, snapping from their July spell that featured their first losing month in half a decade. It also makes nights like Friday linger without much margin for error. A trip to the Arizona heat against a Diamondbacks club chasing them was supposed to be a chance to increase that margin. To potentially extinguish the threat altogether, if all went well.

Little did on Friday night, save for the result.

FIRE US UP, WILL. pic.twitter.com/Ihs26MNzu5

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 31, 2024

Clayton Kershaw trudged off the mound without recording an out in the second inning. His last pitch was a curveball that hung over the plate, and Carroll crushed it. Kelly had already been warming after Kershaw alerted Roberts and the staff that his left big toe had been bothering him again. It’s a bone spur, Roberts said, that Kershaw has dealt with off and on for “years.”

“I just couldn’t really push off,” Kershaw said. That last curveball registered at 67.4 mph. His preceding fastball came in at 87.2 mph.

A trip to the injured list is a possibility.

“It’s obviously not good,” Roberts said. “There’s swelling. There’s pain. He’s doing everything he can to kind of get through. Some starts it feels fine and it’s not impeding. Today certainly it was. He just … he had nothing.”

In turn, it forced a bullpen that helped hold on for a successful homestand to cover eight innings with limited options. That left Kelly out there to throw 46 pitches to record five outs, coughing up the Dodgers’ early 5-3 advantage along with it. Vesia wound up getting four outs in his third outing in four nights, a typical red line for a reliever that would require multiple days of rest. Ryan Brasier also threw for the third time in four nights. Same with Michael Kopech. Blake Treinen threw a night after working one-plus innings. Anthony Banda pitched for the third day in a row and the fourth time in five games when he surrendered four ninth-inning runs as they struggled to shut the door with what was left of that group.

“We have some absolute dogs in our bullpen,” Vesia said. “Circumstances like this is where it comes out.”

At least three pitchers who were unavailable wound up pitching, Roberts said. He certainly didn’t want to use Banda in that spot. He was leery of using Daniel Hudson on consecutive days after not pitching for a week. Treinen has thrown more than he has in a couple of years. The only reliever who didn’t pitch, Evan Phillips, would’ve been pitching for the third day in a row.

“Tonight was pretty dicey,” Roberts said. “You just don’t have much margin. I don’t think any manager looks to manage a game for eight innings.”

It’s a nightmare night, not just for Friday but beyond. There will likely be at least a couple of moves the Dodgers make just to get through Saturday. The Dodgers were already planning on a tepid pitching plan for Sunday, likely calling up rookie Justin Wrobleski for a spot start. Their pitching is uncertain as it is; Tyler Glasnow’s timetable from elbow tendinitis remains unclear even after he resumed a throwing progression Friday, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s still working his way back from a strained rotator cuff.

These are serious and existential questions for the Dodgers as they head toward October. Then again, their division lead is now five games — their largest lead since Aug. 5.

“I think it shows how we are very resilient, right?” Vesia said. “With all the adversity this game showed today, for us to come out on top, it was great.”

“It’s just kind of a battle for everybody,” Max Muncy said. “And I feel like everyone was just giving their best and not complaining about anything, and going out there just doing their job.”

A full-strength Dodgers lineup that returned Freddie Freeman cracked Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen for five runs with help from Freeman’s two-run homer. They tacked on with Will Smith’s biggest swing in at least a month with a three-run shot — since June 1, he’d been hitting .195. Shohei Ohtani teed off to create the 43-43 club, potentially bringing himself closer to another historic distinction. He will need just two more games with at least one home run and one steal to match Rickey Henderson’s mark from 1986 for the most in a single season (13).

THE 1/1 OF THE 43/43!

Shohei Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to hit 43 home runs and steal 43 bases in the same season 🤯

🎥 @MLBpic.twitter.com/JOsB9uF7Rs

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 31, 2024

It was enough for what amounted to a fire drill in the dugout and the bullpen to be navigated successfully. At least something emerged from the night.

“I feel great about the win,” Roberts said. “I feel bummed about Clayton. That’s where we’re at. It’s a little sour. … It would’ve been a lot more quiet if we hadn’t won the game.”

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)