The Los Angeles Dodgers secured their first shutout of 2020 Spring Training on Wednesday, defeating longtime rival San Francisco Giants, 4-0, at Camelback Ranch. The matchup was the Dodgers’ first night game at home this year and one that saw tensions rise.
It seemingly stemmed from an injury scare with Justin Turner, as hit was hit by a pitch in the first inning. Turner clutched at his left hand as trainer checked on him before remaining in the game.
Turner also played the field in the second inning and clubbed a two-run home in the third prior to being removed along with other regulars. He later explained the pitch struck his knuckle and underwent X-rays, which came back negative.
Kershaw appeared to retaliate when he hit Rob Brantly with two outs in the second inning. After recording the third out and walking toward the dugout, Giants third-base coach Ron Wotus said something to Kershaw as their paths cross.
The ever-competitive lefty changed his course and turned to shout a response at Wotus. Home-plate umpire Tom Woodring stepped in front of Kershaw and escorted him to the dugout. Woodring then spoke with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and issued warnings to both benches.
Kershaw brushed off the incident and noted there’s been frustration for the Dodgers in watching Turner get hit and pitched in on his hands, via SportsNet LA:
“He was upset about the hit by pitch and told me about it, so I just said something back. No big deal. It’s over. … J.T. is huge for us. It gets hard to watch that up and in pitch to him all the time. He gets hit there again and it’s scary. Thankfully he’s OK. We’ve seen that before, where he’s missed the first six weeks of the season. We don’t want to have that. We need him.”
Turner suffered a left wrist fracture during Spring Training in 2018 when he was hit by a pitch — coincidentally also during the Dodgers’ first night home game of the year. He missed the first six weeks of the regular season and deal with residual soreness.
Turner has since taken to wearing a protective EvoShield pad on his left wrist and credited it for preventing subsequent fractures over the past two seasons.
As for Kershaw, his second Cactus League start saw more positive results as he allowed two hits and struck out four over three scoreless innings.
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