The last time Johnny Cueto and Clayton Kershaw went head-to-head — June 10, 2016 — both pitched eight innings. On Monday night at Dodger Stadium, it was fair to wonder whether Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts should have pinch-hit for Kershaw in the fifth inning.
The San Francisco Giants at that point held a 4-2 lead. Kershaw had already lined an RBI single to left field in the second inning, and he batted for himself in the bottom of the fifth.
Kershaw’s night came to an end after 104 pitches across six laborious innings. He allowed four runs and eight hits.
“We obviously expect perfection out of Clayton every time he takes the mound,” Roberts said after his club’s loss.
“For me, the late depth, late life to the slider wasn’t there. Uncharacteristic of Clayton, there were some sliders that were elevated. For the most part when he takes the mound, that’s a pitch he can count on. He just didn’t have it. It was a grind.”
When Kershaw faced the Giants at AT&T Park last week, he permitted just one run and had seven strikeouts over seven innings. The Giants did manage six hits in their loss.
Rather than overwhelm the Dodgers’ ace in the second meeting, the Giants stung him with the long ball.
Kershaw was tagged for two home runs, including a two-run shot by Hunter Pence in the first inning. Pence entered the game 7-for-70 without no extra-base hits, and 17 strikeouts in his career against the three-time Cy Young Award winner.
“I don’t know if I would pinpoint it all to [the slider], but it definitely didn’t help that it wasn’t great for me tonight,” Kershaw said. “There’s a lot of stuff. It just wasn’t a great night.
“Definitely credit to them. There were so many good at-bats, especially their 2, 3, 4 guys. They’re one of the few teams these days that seem like they take pride in not striking out.”
Kershaw hoped to limit the Giants to just the two runs on Pence’s homer, but was taken deep by Buster Posey in the third inning, and didn’t help his cause in the fifth on an Eduardo Nuñez bunt.
After fielding the ball in front of the mound, Kershaw threw low and wide of first base, allowing Nuñez to advance into scoring position. He promptly scored on Christian Arroyo’s single.
Kershaw later explained he didn’t have a clean grip on the baseball, and conceded he should’ve not attempted to make the late throw.
The multi-home run game was Kershaw’s 18th of his career and eighth at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw allowed three home runs in a loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in his second start of the season.
