Clayton Kershaw again allowed two home runs in a start and this time the Los Angeles Dodgers could not dig themselves out of a hole in their 3-1 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Just like in his 2023 Cactus League debut, Kershaw allowed a solo home run in the first inning. He stranded a one-out single in the second inning but surrendered a solo homer in the third to Corey Seager, who ambushed the first pitch and extended his hitting streak to nine games with the blast to deep center field.
Kershaw wound up building his pitch count by getting into the fifth inning. He exited at 75 pitches over 4.1 innings, and with the Dodgers trailing 2-0.
Caleb Ferguson wasn’t overly sharp but stranded a baserunner to keep the Dodgers’ deficit manageable.
Jimmy Nelson then entered in the sixth inning and added to the shaky pitching performances. Nelson failed to locate most of his pitches and walked the bases loaded with one out. Nelson’s fourth walk of the inning brought a run in and marked the end of his night.
Nelson has largely struggled in his four appearances this spring, walking eight of 17 batters faced. Despite last having pitched for the Dodgers on July 30, 2021, he was re-signed to a Major League deal early into Spring Training.
Alex Vesia retired both batters faced to strand the bases loaded, and Wander Suero, Jake Reed and Evan Phillips followed with one scoreless inning each.
Dodgers lineup struggles
Although the Dodgers bullpen prevented the game from getting out of hand, the offense had another inconsistent night.
Rangers starter Jon Gray allowed just two hits and had four strikeouts over four scoreless innings. Josh Sborz allowed one hit to his former team, and the Dodgers had another off Zack Littell.
L.A. finally managed to break through in the bottom of the eighth when a walk and base hit put two runners on, and a wild pitch allowed both to advance. Drew Avans’ sacrifice fly prevented the Dodgers from being shut out.
Yonny Hernández drew a walk to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth but Ryan Ward wasn’t able to keep the two-out rally alive.
Jason Heyward and Chris Taylor, who hit first and second in the Dodgers lineup, went a combined 0-for-6 with three strikeouts.
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