Clayton Kershaw made his highly anticipated return to the Los Angeles Dodgers in May after missing the first month of the 2025 season while recovering from knee and foot surgeries.
The left-hander did not fare well in his first start against the Los Angeles Angels as he gave up five runs over four innings pitched and uncharacteristically struggled with his command.
Kershaw bounced back with two scoreless innings against the New York Mets, but had the outing cut short by a lengthy rain delay at Citi Field.
Kershaw then turned in his best start of the season against the Cleveland Guardians when he allowed just one run across five innings of work.
“I think it’s gotten better each time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kershaw. “I think to just expect him to be dialed in is unfair, but I do think there’s some things that I saw that were much better in the last couple innings in Cleveland. Command (trouble) has never been a thing for Clayton, so that’s something we’re trying to dial in.
“But like I said from the outset, the two starts, or two and a half starts, the stuff has been good. It’s just been working through the command stuff, which I think will come.”
As Roberts noted, Kershaw has mostly looked sharp in his first three starts of the season aside from a few hiccups. He has notably issued six walks in 11 innings pitched thus far while his strikeouts continue to trend down.
Kershaw has had to reinvent himself over the last few years due to a drop in fastball velocity, but as long as he can sort out location issues, the three-time Cy Young Award winner will remain an effective in his 18th season with the Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw frustrated by ‘bad habits’
Despite finding success against the Guardians, Kershaw was not happy with his performance and said he is still trying to fine-tune his mechanics.
The 37-year-old will look for better results when he takes the mound against the Mets on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
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