While Clayton Kershaw faced a Colorado Rockies team he’s historically dominated at Dodger Stadium, they slugged what was a then-season-high three home runs off the Los Angeles Dodgers ace at Coors Field in April.
Kershaw was coming off a start in which he allowed a career-worst four home runs. He hoped to put the subpar performance behind him. But the first inning on Saturday night suggested more trouble lied ahead.
Each of the first three batters struck the ball well. Charlie Blackmon lined out, but DJ LeMahieu doubled and Nolan Arenado reached on an infield single. Mark Reynolds then drew a walk to load the bases.
While the Rockies had Kershaw staggering on the ropes, he countered with back-to-back strikeouts to escape the inning unscathed. Albeit at 33 pitches.
“It was a rough first inning. Throwing that many pitches made it tough to get deeper into the game, unfortunately,” Kershaw said. “You just try to limit the damage in that situation. First innings, sometimes it’s tough for me to settle in.
“That’s a really good lineup over there. Thankfully, I got out of it. Then from there I just tried to salvage some innings. Obviously, you want to try to get to seven or eight (innings).”
Kershaw settled in after that point. He retired 13 in a row, including striking out the side in the fourth, before allowing a two-out single to Rockies reliever Chris Rusin in the fifth.
Blackmon’s base hit gave the Rockies another look at the game, though Kershaw retired LeMahieu and the Dodgers’ lead remained 4-0.
“You just have to have that mindset where you can’t give in. That’s the biggest thing. The old cliche, ‘one pitch at a time.’ That really holds true,” explained Kershaw when asked how he managed to overcome the early troubles. “You just kind of keep doing that until they take you out.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts felt his ace had more of an edge than usual, “if that’s possible,” he said. Kershaw didn’t necessarily intend for that to be the case.
“They’re a really good team. I think that’s going to be a team we have to beat down the stretch,” he said. “It’s important to get these wins now, especially when we’re playing so well. Other than that, I tried to treat it like a another game.”
Kershaw lobbied to remain in the game after six innings, but had his night come to an end at 103 pitches. He held the Rockies to just four hits and collected eight strikeouts.
The shutout work was Kershaw’s first such effort since holding the San Francisco Giants scoreless over seven innings in May. What’s more, he snapped a streak of starts with at least one home run allowed at five.
