The Marlins tacked on two more runs in the fifth when Christian Yelich laid down an RBI bunt single with two outs and Ichiro Suzuki was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Advertisement
Kershaw pitched only three innings and needed 66 pitches to get through it. “Physically, I felt fine”. “I thought he pitched more inside tonight”. The Dodgers are obviously hoping to get the three-time Cy Young Award victor back at 100 percent before the playoffs.
Kershaw admitted he briefly thought about whether he would ever come back. A lot of people put in a lot of work to help me get back and I’m thankful for that. I probably pouted for a day and got over it.
Kershaw’s breaking pitches, in particular, did not have their usual bite and he acknowledged “I was in the middle of the plate more than I should be”.
Fernandez did what he usually does at Marlins Park, improving his career mark there to 28-2 while shutting out the Dodgers for seven innings on three hits.
Getting Kershaw to lower his exacting standards and accept that was a tough sell even though Friday’s start was essentially a second rehab start made on a big-league mound. “I got to pitch again”. In those situations, they were 0-for-5 with five strikeouts. “Regardless of the pitch count, it would have been a short night”.
Kershaw threw a scoreless third inning, striking out Marcell Ozuna on a silder for his final pitch of the game.
Kershaw gave up an infield hit in the third inning and was pulled after that inning by Manager Dave Roberts.
It must be pretty special to be disappointed with a 14-strikeout pitching performance, but that’s where Jose Fernandez finds himself, especially when he is at Marlins Park, where he is almost unbeatable.
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.
Bud Norris came out of the bullpen for the Dodgers and allowed two runs on one-hit in the fifth inning.
“There wasn’t the sharpness we expected, the slider wasn’t there, but just to see him on the mound was great”, Roberts said. “For Clayton to be back, that’s a win for us”.
Los Angeles leads the NL West by 4.5 games over the San Francisco Giants who are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Porcello gave up two earned runs and struck out seven in seven innings. He didn’t walk a batter and did strike out five, becoming the first pitcher in major-league history to reach 150 strikeouts in a season while walking fewer than 10 batters (he has allowed nine walks this season).
Tom Koehler will try to make it three wins in a row for the Marlins when he starts on Saturday.
Advertisement
All quotes courtest of TWC’s SportsNetLA.
