‘Embarrassing’: Kershaw pulled after 6-run 1st
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — The ball sailed into the air and Clayton Kershaw rested his hands on his knees, head down, legs slightly bent, back toward home plate, a painful, all-too-familiar sight in this place, at this time of year. Gabriel Moreno had belted the three-run homer that gave the Arizona Diamondbacks a five-run lead before Kershaw recorded the first out in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night, delivering the decisive blow within the first 10 minutes.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, their starting rotation in flux heading into October, have never needed Kershaw more. But they have never been more uncertain about what he can provide for them. Their playoff opener provided an ominous sign: six runs allowed, one out recorded and quite possibly the worst postseason start in baseball history.
“Disappointing,” Kershaw said after an 11-2 loss. “Embarrassing. You just feel like you let everybody down. The guys, a whole organization, that looked to you to pitch well in Game 1. It’s just embarrassing, really. So I just feel like I let everybody down. It’s a tough way to start the postseason. Obviously, we still have a chance at this thing, but that wasn’t the way it should’ve started for me.”
The final two months of the regular season saw Kershaw pitch brilliantly through a tender left shoulder. His fastball was a tick or two slower, his outings came after an additional day or two of rest, but he pitched to a 2.23 ERA in an eight-start stretch and was kept to only about five innings at a time in an effort to keep his arm fresh for the games that mattered most.
Game 1 began with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noting that “this is as good as he’s felt physically in the last couple months.” It ended with Kershaw becoming the first playoff pitcher in major league history to allow five hits and five runs before recording an out. With Kershaw failing to finish the first inning for the first time in 454 career starts. With Kershaw and his famously checkered postseason track record joining only three others in allowing six-plus runs while recording one out or fewer in postseason history.
Dodgers catcher Will Smith said Kershaw’s stuff “looked like the normal stuff that it’s been all year.” Roberts said there was nothing physically wrong, a point Kershaw echoed.
“I feel fine,” Kershaw said when asked if he feels healthy enough to help the team moving forward. “I feel fine. I just didn’t make enough good pitches, obviously, tonight. There’s nothing health-related here; just bad pitching.”
Kershaw’s second pitch, a 73-mph curveball slightly low, was lined 116 mph to center field and bounced off the heel of James Outman‘s glove, a double that probably should have been ruled an error. Outman, a rookie, said the ball sped up on him but also that his “nerves kind of got the best of me.”
Corbin Carroll and Tommy Pham followed with back-to-back singles, Christian Walker added a double, and then Moreno, whose status was uncertain after he was hit in the head by a backswing during Arizona’s last game Wednesday, blasted a 419-foot home run to left-center field, leaving a still-arriving Dodger Stadium crowd in stunned silence.
Three batters later, after a one-out walk and another double, Kershaw exited, making way for rookie right-hander Emmet Sheehan.
“Usually Clayton does a great job of controlling, managing damage,” Roberts said. “And tonight unfortunately we didn’t do that.”
The outing increased Kershaw’s postseason ERA from 4.22 to 4.49 in 194⅓ innings. It’s two runs higher than his sterling regular-season ERA of 2.48 and stands as the highest among the 31 pitchers throughout major league history with more than 100 innings in the playoffs.
The differential has proved to be a major stain on Kershaw’s reputation, but it is also complicated, burdened by several outings in which he pitched on short rest, was used in relief or was kept in longer than normal. This time, it jumped significantly at a time when Kershaw — 35 years old, with nearly 3,000 innings under his belt and an assortment of injuries in his track record — is not fully healthy.
“I don’t think anybody in the baseball world was expecting that,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, part of an offense that did little against an aggressive Merrill Kelly. “But next time Clayton Kershaw’s on the mound, we’ll be just as confident again. Hopefully we can get him back on that mound.”
Kershaw’s next start, Roberts said, is still lined up for Game 4 at Chase Field in Phoenix on Thursday, an outing that will take place unless the Dodgers are swept.
Kershaw is the only man still standing from the Dodgers’ initial rotation. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin underwent season-ending surgeries; Julio Urias is on administrative leave after allegations of domestic violence; Noah Syndergaard struggled mightily before being traded away; and Walker Buehler didn’t make it back from his second Tommy John surgery in time to help.
The Dodgers’ postseason pitching plan consists of a lot of rookies, a lot of relievers and a lot of unconventionality. But if they hope to make another deep run, and avoid the early-round disappointments that have plagued them in recent years, they need Kershaw to tap back into some of what has made him great.
They need him to recover dramatically for Game 4.
“I’ll be ready,” Kershaw said. “Yeah, I’ll be ready.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Pittsburgh Pirates are back on the board after Tommy Pham‘s two-run home run in the third inning at Kansas City on Monday night ended a 30-inning scoreless streak.
The Pirates had been shut out in all three games at Seattle during their previous series.
However, they tallied another loss against the Royals, losing 9-3.
The scoreless streak included Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Mariners in which Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes threw 10 strikeouts in five scoreless innings before the Pirates gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Before beginning this nine-game trip with the sweep by the Mariners, the Pirates had blanked the St. Louis Cardinals in three consecutive home games. Their streak of playing in six straight shutouts matched the longest in major league history.
Pham, a 12-year veteran who is in his first season with the Pirates, bookended the scoreless skid with RBIs. He drove in a seventh-inning run with a groundout Wednesday during the 5-0 victory over the Cardinals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Kansas legislative committee has extended a deadline for the Chiefs and Royals to take advantage of a stadium financing plan from the state.
The Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council on Monday unanimously approved the extension to use bonds to cover 70% of a new stadium’s cost if the teams decide to relocate to the state. The new deadline is June 30, 2026, although the committee indicated it is seeking an answer from the teams by Dec. 31 of this year.
Chiefs president Mark Donovan requested the extension late last month in a letter to Kansas Senate president Ty Masterson. The Royals verbally requested an extension around the same time. The deadline expired on June 30 but was retroactively extended Monday.
“Together, we have the opportunity to bring the National Football League to Kansas, anchored by a world-class domed stadium, new team headquarters, a state-of-the-art practice facility, and a vibrant mixed-use and entertainment district,” Donovan wrote in his letter to Masterson.
The Chiefs and Royals have played for more than five decades at the Truman Sports Complex on the east side of Kansas City, Missouri, where Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium share parking facilities. But leases with Jackson County are due to expire in January 2031, and the two franchises have been trying to plot a course forward for years.
Last year, Jackson County voters defeated a sales tax extension that would have helped to finance an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead Stadium — the home of the Chiefs — and a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City.
Last month, however, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session to approve a stadium financing deal that included disaster relief for the St. Louis area, where a series of devastating tornadoes caused widespread damage. The legislation authorizes bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in Missouri, plus up to $50 million in tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.
If they choose to stay in Missouri, the Chiefs have floated plans for a $1.15 billion renovation of Arrowhead Stadium. The Royals have insisted all along that they intend to build a replacement for Kauffman Stadium.
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt has long professed his affinity for Arrowhead Stadium, which was built by his father and team founder Lamar Hunt. But he also is keenly aware of the revenue streams available by building a new domed stadium, including the chance to host the Super Bowl, the Final Four and other marquee sporting events.
Donovan commented Monday on the Chiefs’ looming stadium decision.
“Now, it’s literally getting down to the final points and making sure that everybody’s in agreement on what we need to do, and that we have all the pieces lined up,” he told reporters. “Because our job is to go to the Hunt family and suggest, ‘Here are your two options; they both make sense.'”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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