CLEVELAND -- There’s no denying that Clayton Kershaw isn’t the same kind of pitcher he was early in his career.
But, as he proved on Wednesday, he’s still capable of pitching well enough to hold a Major League lineup at bay.
Kershaw danced around six hits and two walks, allowing just one run across five innings in the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Guardians.
The bad news for Kershaw is that his bullpen wasn’t able to make the start stand up, as Lou Trivino, Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia combined to allow six runs in relief.
“It’s sour,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game.
The Guardians jumped on Kershaw in the first inning, as Angel Martínez doubled and José Ramírez tagged him for a run with an RBI single. Kershaw was saved by some solid defense, though, when Andy Pages threw Ramírez out at second base trying to stretch his hit into a double.
While Kershaw followed that up with walks to Carlos Santana and Gabriel Arias, he got Jhonkensy Noel to fly out to end the inning.
“Andy making that throw was huge to be able to limit the damage,” Kershaw said.
Kershaw needed 26 pitches to get through that first inning, but he was able to get through the next four frames on just 48.
”I’m fighting some stuff mechanically and different things, but I was able to make some pitches here and there to get through five innings,” Kershaw said.
While the Guardians put eight balls in play with an exit velocity of 100+ miles per hour (and had an expected batting average of .322 against Kershaw), he still was able to limit the damage.
After only recording three strikeouts across his first two starts of the year, Kershaw matched that total against Cleveland. He’s now 26 strikeouts away from becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB history to record 3,000 strikeouts in a career.
“It wasn’t his best stuff but he found a way to limit damage and compete out there,” Roberts said. “He willed himself through five innings. I thought he got a little better in the last couple innings and did enough to help us win a game.”
Kershaw was able to generate four whiffs on his slider, three on his curveball and two on his splitter. All three of Cleveland’s strikeouts against him were swinging.
“There was some progress,” Kershaw said.
That progress was stalled by a subpar outing from a Dodgers bullpen that’s had a taxing month of May. While Trivino was able to dance around a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning, he was relieved for Scott in the seventh after the Guardians added a run on a Santana single.
Scott was able to get out of the inning by striking out Arias, but he loaded the bases himself in the eighth inning before allowing a game-tying two-run single to Nolan Jones.
“The crux is that we’re not able to put guys away with the strikeout [when we get count leverage],” Roberts said. “We’re leaving sliders in the zone for them to put the ball in play and when you do that the ball finds holes.”
Scott was then replaced by Vesia, who surrendered a go-ahead three-run home run to Martínez. The homer came on a fastball after Vesia missed on two changeups.
“I tried throwing two changeups and they weren’t good and then the fastball was right down the middle,” Vesia said.
It was another tough outing for a Dodgers bullpen that’s lacking a good amount of bite. They’re down five key arms (Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates and Brusdar Graterol), but still have thrown 104 2/3 innings this month, which is the second-highest mark in baseball.
While Scott’s filled in admirably as the full-time closer (10 saves), he’s also missing less bats than ever (career-low 9.5 K/9) while also being in the 17th percentile in hard-hit rate.
“We’ve got to kind of get to the bottom of him [being unable to put people away],” Roberts said. “It’s not a usage thing. … It’s just that last pitch to put guys away.”
Now, Vesia and the rest of his teammates will do their best to put Wednesday’s loss behind them ahead of their World Series rematch against the Yankees this weekend.
“We’re a bunch of tough guys in there and I’ll bet on [any of them],” Vesia said.