LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw still has a ways to go in his rehab from offseason left toe and left knee surgeries, but his first game action went just about as smoothly as he could have hoped.
Making his first rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City, Kershaw struck out two and allowed a pair of singles in three scoreless innings against the Tacoma Rainiers on Wednesday morning at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. The rough plan had been for the veteran southpaw to get through two innings, but Kershaw was so efficient that he got a third, landing 22 of his 30 pitches for strikes and topping out at 89 mph with his fastball.
"I know he's probably happy with the uptick in velocity," manager Dave Roberts said. "The toe is the last part of it. The body feels good. The arm feels good. And so just getting that left toe, the drive foot, is the last piece. But talking to the training staff, they said he felt pretty good."
The three-time Cy Young Award winner is entering his 18th Major League season -- all with the Dodgers -- and is just 32 strikeouts short of 3,000. Kershaw began the season on the 60-day injured list, and even though he's taking this step forward now, he's not necessarily expected to be activated as soon as he's eligible in late May.
It had been more than seven months since Kershaw's last game action on Aug. 30, 2024, when he left his start with the D-backs in the second inning due to pain in his left big toe. It ended up keeping him out through the Dodgers' championship run, and Kershaw ultimately went under the knife to get back to full strength last November.
While Kershaw's arm was in great shape before he left for his rehab assignment, he felt that his surgically repaired toe was still a little behind, affecting his final push off the mound in his delivery.
From what Roberts has heard, Kershaw has continued to improve with every outing, including Wednesday's with the Comets.
"Just reading the report, they said that it felt considerably better than the last one," Roberts said. "Hopefully tomorrow, he feels the same way."