For 5 innings on Saturday night time, Clayton Kershaw navigated each a last-place opponent, the high-altitude parts and a shortly elevated pitch depend.
Regardless of giving up two unearned runs within the first inning, he had stored the Colorado Rockies quiet over the following 4 because the Dodgers took a lead at Coors Subject.
Within the backside of the sixth, nevertheless, it look simply seven pitches for his outing to come back to a screeching finish.
The Rockies hit back-to-back singles in opposition to his curveball. They pulled in entrance with a two-run triple and an RBI single on consecutive first-pitch sliders.
All of the sudden, the Dodgers had been trailing and supervisor Dave Roberts was strolling to the mound.
Kershaw’s night time was completed. In an eventual 5-3 loss, the Dodgers wouldn’t lead once more.
“It was a grind tonight,” mentioned Kershaw, who gave up 5 whole runs (three earned) in 5 1/3 innings to boost his ERA to 2.66.
“Total I believed my stuff was OK,” he added. “Was capable of regroup after that [first inning] and get by way of the following few innings fairly simply. After which, yeah, that sixth inning, felt good about it, it simply type of obtained away from me there.”
The primary hit was the one Kershaw regretted essentially the most, a curveball to Brendan Rodgers that “in all probability got here again into him a little bit bit,” Kershaw mentioned, snapping a stretch wherein he had retired 13 of the earlier 15 because the begin of the second inning.
José Iglesias put runners on the corners within the subsequent at-bat by dumping a low curveball into proper.
Then got here the 2 pitches that modified the sport: a backdoor slider to Randal Grichuk that was lined the opposite means for a two-run triple, and an at-the-knees slider to Elias Díaz that was pushed to left to make it 5-3.
“The 2 sliders had been in all probability, I believed, well-placed and first rate,” Kershaw mentioned. “However possibly I’d completed the identical factor too many occasions. They put good swings on them. Hit them laborious. In order that was the irritating half.”
Simply attending to the sixth inning had been a problem for the left-hander, who threw 29 pitches in a primary inning that was prolonged by Max Muncy’s two-out error at third base.
That miscue, on a bouncer from Iglesias that glanced off Muncy’s arm and into left area, was Muncy’s third error within the final eight video games and one in every of a number of balls this weekend he’s didn't provide you with.
Roberts, nevertheless, downplayed any defensive issues for the third baseman.
“He circled I believe an inning or two later and made a pair very nice performs,” Roberts mentioned. “So Max is taking part in good protection. I do know that within the final 10 days, there’s a couple of performs that I believe we’d wish to have him provide you with.”
The Dodgers (67-33) responded, as nicely.
After opening the scoring within the prime of the primary on a Will Smith RBI double, they retook the lead with two runs within the third on a Trea Turner dwelling run — utilizing his sixteenth of the 12 months to run his hit streak to 17 video games — and a Hanser Alberto RBI single.
The offense cooled off after that, going scoreless over the ultimate six innings for a second straight night time.
Kershaw, in the meantime, suffered his second bumpy begin in opposition to the Rockies (46-56) at Coors Subject this 12 months — a spot the place he now has a personal-worst 4.82 profession ERA.
“I simply don’t give it some thought,” Kershaw mentioned when requested about his Coors Subject woes. “Simply attempt to make pitches. I’m not gonna let any ballpark dictate how I really feel about how I pitched. I’m not that mentally weak. You simply obtained to pitch, and in the event you don’t pitch good, you bought to come clean with it.”
Post a Comment