Clayton Kershaw bucked a career trend the past two springs when he pitched to a sub-2.00 ERA in 2015 and 2016. Through his first three starts this year, Kershaw threw a combined hitless innings with one walk and five strikeouts.
His hitless and scoreless streak came to an end March 12 in the bottom of the first inning when Mike Moustakas hit a solo home run. It was the lone run Kershaw allowed that afternoon on two hits, and he finished with four strikeouts in four innings.
While the left-handed ace stretched out to five innings on Friday night in a split-squad game against the Seattle Mariners, there were multiple peaks and valleys for Kershaw in the start. He allowed a one-out single in the first inning yet still struck out the side.
Kershaw picked up another strikeout in the second inning. He collected eight on the night, but when it was all said and done he’d also allowed three home runs.
The fiery competitor conceded he pitched to both ends of the spectrum at Camelback Ranch, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“It was kind of weird,” said Kershaw. “When I felt I was executing, I did a pretty good job, but there was no in between tonight. I was either really good or really bad, I guess. The margin for error just didn’t happen tonight.”
One of the home runs Kershaw allowed was on a hanging breaking ball to the left-handed hitting Leonys Martin on an 0-2 count. Kershaw threw 70 pitches on the night, and in a break from his previous four outings, did not do any additional throwing in the bullpen.
Even with surrendering a combined four home runs in his past two starts, Kershaw has amassed 17 strikeouts over 15 innings pitched in Cactus League play. Kershaw has been generally pleased with the progression made as he ramps up for a seventh consecutive start on Opening Day.
