With the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen in a state of despair and reason for consecutive walk-off losses, Clayton Kershaw rose to the occasion in Monday’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants.
Starting opposite Madison Bumgarner for the 11th time in his career, but first instance since September 2016, Kershaw recorded nine strikeouts and limited the Giants to just one run over eight innings.
He offset the one run allowed by flaring an RBI double into shallow left field that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Unfortunately for Kershaw and the Dodgers, his efforts were all for naught.
Scott Alexander allowed the Giants to rally for four runs with two outs in the ninth inning, resulting in a 5-2 loss for the Dodgers. Following the game, Kershaw unsurprisingly said he was willing to attempt a complete game, per Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times:
“I would have stayed in. Doc made the choice.”
Kershaw was lifted at 110 pitches, which was just two off matching a season high he threw in five innings of an April start against the Miami Marlins. Considering his back trouble in each of the past three seasons and this year’s biceps tendinitis, the Dodgers pushing Kershaw was an unlikely scenario.
Beyond that, Roberts will need to be able to rely on his bullpen at some point down the stretch of the season anyhow. That might become slightly more feasible over the next two days as Ross Stripling and Kenta Maeda become available.
Additionally, Kenley Jansen is hopeful he’ll return from heart trouble earlier than the projected four-to-six-week recovery.
