The Los Angeles Dodgers had their season-high six-game winning streak snapped in a 10-6 loss to the San Diego Padres that saw Clayton Kershaw struggle on the mound.
The left-hander completed just 4.2 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs to Fernando Tatís Jr. Kershaw collected seven strikeouts but issued a season-high five walks.
The matchup was the Dodgers’ first at Petco Park since they were eliminated by the Padres in the National League Division Series. Their visit was largely downplayed by the likes of manager Dave Roberts, Mookie Betts and Kershaw.
After the win, the Padres trolled the Dodgers by displaying a photo of him crying on the scoreboard in left field.
#Padres put a crying Clayton Kershaw photo onto the Jumbotron after the win: pic.twitter.com/2sj8QX1EzF
— Annie Heilbrunn (@annieheilbrunn) May 6, 2023
“It’s a good environment. Definitely loud. It makes it more fun, I guess, when people are into it,” Kershaw said when asked about being at Petco Park for the first time since the 2022 NLDS. There was not any indication if he was aware of what the Padres had done.
With the loss, the Dodgers dropped to 19-14 on the season and now hold a one-game lead over the third-place Padres in the NL West standings. The Diamondbacks trail L.A. by only a half-game.
“Well, we’ve got about 130 more games, so not super important at the moment,” Kershaw said of this weekend’s series. “But yeah, we’d like to win.”
Clayton Kershaw: 5 walks are ‘unacceptable’
Kershaw’s five walks doubled his season total, and it was the first time he issued that many free passes in a single start since August 1, 2019.
“It’s unacceptable. It’s not a good recipe to win games, so I’ll just try not to do that next time,” he said after the loss.
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