With the Los Angeles Dodgers failing to complete a comeback, Clayton Kershaw took a loss against the San Diego Padres for the first time until June 2013. Yet, it wasn’t the biggest oddity at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
That belonged to Kiké Hernandez, Eric Lauer and other players as they moved along, undeterred as Dodger Stadium began to shake because of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Ridgecrest, Calif. The trembling began at 8:20 p.m. PT, or the bottom of the fourth inning.
Lauer threw several pitches to Hernandez, who seemed unfazed as the rattling lasted nearly one minute. Hernandez later said he was not aware of the situation. Neither were some of his teammates.
“I didn’t feel it a bit. Everybody was telling me about it,” Kershaw said. “I was underneath in the tunnel and heard the crowd kind of go crazy but I had no idea what was going on until someone told me.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was tipped off by fans of some sort of occurrence, but didn’t know the reason until being informed of the earthquake. “We really couldn’t feel it as much on the field as the people in the upper deck. There was a lot of commotion going on but I didn’t really understand what was going on,” Roberts explained.
“Then I got word quickly what it was. I think the epicenter was in the same area, so hopefully people are OK. Dodger Stadium held up.”
Kenley Jansen and Alex Verdugo were on the same page in that they felt the jolt that reverberated through Dodger Stadium, but the two had vastly different viewpoints.
“The stadium is shaking, it’s not fun. Having an earthquake is not fun,” Jansen recalled thinking. “Knowing there’s 50,000 people in the stands in a sold-out stadium, with nowhere to go when the ballpark is shaking.
“Not trying to be dramatic or anything, but people are obviously in danger when stuff like that happens, especially in a stadium. It was definitely a scary moment.”
Jansen was in the Dodgers clubhouse at the time and checked with others to ensure his bearings were correct. “I was tripping for a second,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Am I tripping? Or am I getting sick or something?’ I went into the training room, ‘Y’all feel the same thing I’m feeling?’
“Next thing you know, you see everything shaking. Definitely not a fun moment. Three now in the last 36 hours? Just got to pray. Hopefully it will calm down.”
Verdugo was much more at ease with the earthquake, which is befitting of his exuberant personality. “I kind of felt the railing and was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we are moving a little bit,'” he said.
“C.T. actually ran out from under the tunnel where the cage is and said, ‘The cameras were like this! (moved hands in shaking motion).’ So he was all fired up. It’s not scary.
“It’s an earthquake, nothing I can do about it. It’s happening. Whatever happens, happens. I can’t tell the Earth to stop moving.”
