Clayton Kershaw took the mound Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for his ninth start this season. For the sixth time, it was with the Los Angeles Dodgers having lost their previous game.
In an oddity, the Dodgers fell behind with Kershaw on the mound, as the Angels strung together three base hits to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. That was the first and only time they had much success on the night.
The Dodgers’ left-handed ace spun eight innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits and collecting 11 strikeouts. For the fifth game this season, Kershaw didn’t issue a walk.
“Adjectives or superlatives, there are none (to describe Kershaw). Obviously, he’s consistently great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kershaw after a 5-1 victory. “The breaking ball was sharp, didn’t throw the slider until the second time around, fastball had life and the location was good.”
Kershaw extended his franchise record of consecutive games with at least 10 strikeouts to six games. He’s closing in on the Major League Baseball record of eight such games, set by Pedro Martinez (1999) and Chris Sale (2015).
Kershaw has largely downplayed his prolific strikeout rate as he continues to pace the Majors in that category. However, he took that a step further on Tuesday night. “Nothing stood out. But nothing was bad, either,” Kershaw said. “It was kind of all average today.”
Perhaps that attitude stems from Kershaw failing to extend his streak of complete-game shutouts at Dodger Stadium. With a road start sandwiched between the two, Kershaw went the distance without allowing a run at home on May 1 and May 12.
Kershaw now has 88 strikeouts to only four walks in 70 innings pitched this season. His 22 to 1 strikeout-to-walk ratio is on pace for the highest mark in the modern era. Phil Hughes holds the current record with a 11.63 to 1 mark with the Minnesota Twins in 2014.
On the season, Kershaw is 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 0.70 WHIP. He’s gone at least seven innings in every outing this year. In four May starts, he’s 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA, 48 strikeouts and one walk over 33 innings pitched.
Easily Kershaw’s biggest error in judgement was testing Mike Trout’s arm on a Chase Utley base hit to center field. Trout cut down Kershaw on his attempt to go first to third base, complete with an awkward slide.
“It wasn’t good,” Kershaw said of his slide. “I probably shouldn’t have gone to third. Trout was playing kind of deep, so I thought I had a better chance. But, Chase hit it pretty hard, and Mike has a pretty good arm. That was probably pretty dumb on my part.”
