Clayton Kershaw pitched to some mixed results in an overall encouraging 2020 Spring Training debut, but the Los Angeles Dodgers had their modest two-game winning streak snapped in a 6-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has regularly voiced optimism with Kershaw throughout camp thus far, and the left-hander was sharp in early in his first Cactus League game of the year. Kershaw struck out the first two batters faced on seven pitches and worked a perfect first inning.
He also struck out Justin Smoak to start the second, but then began to labor. The next three Brewers batters each worked a full count, with two of them drawing a walk. Kershaw was removed after getting Corey Ray swinging on his 37th pitch of the game.
Kershaw exited with a 1-0 lead, having collected four strikeouts over 1.2 hitless innings and with his fastball velocity at 91-93 mph.
Like Kershaw, Alex Wood fell short of completing the targeted two innings. He stranded a two-out single in the third but ran into trouble in the fourth by allowing a single, double and hitting a batter to load the bases.
Joe Broussard struck out the first batter he faced, only to then give up a string of three consecutive hits that was capped off by Keston Hiura’s home run that gave the Brewers a 6-1 lead.
But just as quickly as the Dodgers fell into a deficit, they began to dig themselves out of it. A hit by pitch to start the fifth inning was followed by DJ Peters’ home run that cut the Brewers’ lead in half.
After Mookie Betts walked and Max Muncy was hit by a pitch, Cody Bellinger advanced both runners with a groundout. Bellinger had previously given the Dodgers their first run by scoring Betts on a single in the first inning.
AJ Pollock and Will Smith stranded Betts and Smith, and the Dodgers left a runner on in the seventh and eighth innings as well. Spring Training standout Zach McKinstry launched an opposite-field, two-run home run in the ninth but the Dodgers’ comeback bid fell just short.
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