Rich Hill’s lingering blister made Dave Roberts sick on Saturday night.
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Kershaw pitched for the first time in 75 days on Friday, and while he lasted just three innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers lost 4-1 to the Miami Marlins, the Dodgers considered it a win since they got their ace back into the fold.
But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts chose to remove Hill after seven innings.
Joe Blanton replaced Hill and gave up a single, ruining the flawless game and no-hitter, before the Dodgers closed out a 5-0 victory over the Marlins. Just to take the personal side and understand there’s a great opportunity for him and his family, his teammates. From his perch in the dugout, Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts shook his head and rubbed his face. “That’s cost him a lot of time this season”.
Roberts was likely taking the team’s long-term future into concern when making the decision and the fact that Hill had a blister on his throwing hand when he was acquired by the Dodgers from the Oakland Athletics at the trade deadline.
Hill added that his finger felt fine. This one random game in Miami could potentially sour Hill on re-signing with the Dodgers. “I think it’ll come before the end of the season”. It’s something for Dave that he is in a very hard position. You look at it, and you move on. “That’s all you can do”. But with a 2-2 count, Marlins left fielder Jeff Francoeur lined a single to left to break up the flawless game.
Porcello (20-3) allowed two runs and six hits to become Boston’s first 20-game victor since Josh Beckett in 2007. Kershaw gave up three hits in the second inning, including a comebacker up the middle from opposing pitcher Jose Fernandez that knocked him to the ground. Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis homered for Atlanta.
The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 6-4, the Chicago Cubs shut out the Houston Astros in a 2-0 win, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-2, the Cleveland Indians edged the Minnesota Twins 5-4, and the Milwaukee Brewers were downed by the St Louis Cardinals 4-3. Grichuk made a flawless throw to the plate to cut down Jake Elmore trying to score from second in the eighth. He clubbed a grand slam and a double, walked twice and drove in four runs in five plate appearances in the Yankees victory.
Although Kershaw got out of both innings with no further damage, the extra work ran up his pitch count. He also struck out eight to increase his NL lead to 251. He retired 16 of the final 18 batters he faced, 12 on strikeouts while tying his career-high with 14 strikeouts in those seven innings. On Friday, Brian Knight was hit in the mask area with a foul ball and left the game in the fifth.
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Yasmani Grandal hit his 25th homer in the ninth for the Dodgers, who tried to rally against Fernando Rodney before A.J. Ramos came in and closed it out for his 33rd save.
