Clayton Kershaw took the mound Thursday night in the four-game finale against the New York Mets for his 250th career start. It was his second outing pitching with Yasmani Grandal behind the plate this season, and third time overall.
Grandal replaced A.J. Ellis as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning on April 21 against the Atlanta Braves, and caught Kershaw’s final inning of work that afternoon at Turner Field. Kershaw’s close friendship with Ellis is well-known, which invariably leads to questions whenever the Missouri native isn’t catching his best friend.
Former Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said last season he didn’t favor personal catchers, though Ellis nonetheless was behind the plate for 21 of Kershaw’s 33 starts. Rookie skipper Dave Roberts voiced a similar belief during Spring Training, and reiterated that stance on Thursday.
“At the outset I had a plan of Yasi catching Kersh and other pitchers, and A.J. the same,” Roberts said prior to the game.
Kershaw went on to throw a complete-game shutout with 13 strikeouts, while holding the Mets to just three hits. It was Kershaw’s second consecutive complete-game shutout at Dodger Stadium, and he also set a Dodgers franchise record with a fifth straight start with at least 10 strikeouts.
Pedro Martinez (1999) and Chris Sale (2015), hold the Major League Baseball record with 10-plus strikeouts in eight consecutive starts. “I don’t make too much of that battery,” Roberts said after another dominant outing from his ace.
Grandal’s first start with Kershaw on the mound came against the Miami Marlins when the left-hander sailed until allowing five runs in the sixth inning, leading to a loss. Roberts noted that’s the lone blip on the radar for pitcher-catcher duo.
“[Kershaw] had that one bad inning against the Marlins, but other than that he was dominant,” he said. For his part, Kershaw brushed off having any sort of preference or needing to make adjustments based on which catcher he’s working with.
“Different catchers, obviously, but we go over our game plan before the game,” Kershaw said. “Yas is great back there, A.J. and I have been doing it a long time, so I’m good either way.”
