Clayton Kershaw took the next step in his preparation for the regular season on Thursday, throwing two scoreless innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the Cleveland Indians at Camelback Ranch. He finished the afternoon by throwing in the bullpen.
Kershaw once again did not allow hit or baserunner, though took the opportunity to pitch out of the stretch in the second inning. After a shutout inning of work in his 2017 Spring Training debut, Kershaw lamented his lack of fastball command.
He noted improvement made in that area against the Indians, but felt his curveball was not at the same level of effectiveness as his first start, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Fastball command a little better today and curveball command probably not as good,” said Kershaw, who threw 23 pitches before adding an inning in the bullpen. “My curveball was breaking like I wanted it to, but I was a little short, maybe threw one or two in the strike zone. The rest bounced. I was trying to get it into the strike zone and wasn’t able to do that.”
With the elongated Spring Training that’s a result of the 2017 World Baseball Classic, Kershaw could make a total of seven starts prior to the regular season beginning. He’s on track to tie a Dodgers franchise record set by Don Drysdale and Don Sutton for most Opening Day starts in franchise history (seven).
Four of Drysdale’s seven outings were in succession (1958-61), while Sutton’s string of Opening Day starts ran from 1972-78.
Perhaps more importantly, Kershaw hasn’t shown any residual effects of the herniated disc that forced him to the disabled list last season. His performances thus far have validated Kershaw’s and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ assertion that the 28-year-old is fully healthy.
