Coming off a marathon game against the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers figured to need every bit of Clayton Kershaw’s brilliance against the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a quick three-game homestand.
The Dodgers did recall Luis Avilan and Mike Bolsinger, with the latter in position to serve as an emergency reliever on Monday night if necessary. As has often been the case recently, there wasn’t a need for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to make the walk from the dugout to the mound.
Kershaw turned in another complete-game shutout, holding the Reds to just two hits and needing 102 pitches to get through another dominant night of work. If there was one negative to take away, Kershaw only finished with seven strikeouts.
That snapped his franchise record at six consecutive starts with at least 10 strikeouts. The mark fell one shy of Randy Johnson’s National League record (2001), and two shy of tying the all-time record set by Pedro Martinez (1999) and Chris Sale (2015).
Along with controlling the game from the mound, Kershaw collected the Dodgers’ first hit off Reds starter Brandon Finnegan — a leadoff single in the bottom of the third. Nothing came it, and it was Kershaw’s exploits in the fifth that electrified the crowd.
After reaching on a fielder’s choice, Kershaw aggressively broke for second base on a wild pitch that kicked in front of the plate. Perhaps sensing his team was in need of an additional spark, Kershaw picked up himself up and continued toward third as Tucker Barnhart’s throw went into center field:
When asked to assess his slide into third base, Kershaw said, “Not a great slide. I need to figure out how to do that better. I’ve been sliding a lot this year, it’s been fun. I feel like a baseball player. I enjoy it.”
