Los Angeles Dodgers veteran Clayton Kershaw will take another crack at finding his top form when he faces the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.
Kershaw has made two starts since returning from offseason shoulder surgery. He allowed two runs in four innings against the San Francisco Giants on July 25, then gave up seven runs (three earned) in 3 2/3 innings during a loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
In another cause for concern, Kershaw (0-1, 5.87 ERA) did not strike out any of the 21 San Diego batters he faced. It was the first time he failed to record a strikeout in 424 regular-season starts over 17 seasons.
“Just wasn’t executing,” said Kershaw, who insists there are no issues physically. “Wasn’t throwing really anything that I wanted to, where I wanted to. Frustrating overall.”
Even when Kershaw was fighting through shoulder discomfort last season, he still managed to deliver a 13-5 record with a 2.46 ERA in 24 regular-season starts. The Dodgers still think those kinds of results are ahead.
“I think it’s hard to ever bet against Clayton,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “… (His current form is) part of the process.”
Perhaps Kershaw can lean into his track record against the National League-best Phillies. He has a 2.76 ERA and a 4-6 record in 16 career regular-season starts against Philadelphia.
Looking to make ground on the Phillies, the Dodgers brought the NL’s second-best record into the series opener on Monday before finishing off a 5-3 victory.
The win included home runs from Teoscar Hernandez and Shohei Ohtani as well as the return of Freddie Freeman, who missed eight games while his 3-year-old son was ill and on a breathing machine for a short period.
Freeman, who went 1-for-4 in his return, received a standing ovation before his first at-bat.
“I just can’t really thank the fans enough. I really can’t,” Freeman said.
The Phillies will send left-hander Cristopher Sanchez (7-7, 3.36 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday. Sanchez, an All-Star for the first time this season, is coming off a rough outing Wednesday when he gave up six runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings of a loss to the New York Yankees.
In five July starts, Sanchez went 1-4 with a 6.59 ERA, but the one win came against the Dodgers at Philadelphia on July 10. In that contest, his only career outing against Los Angeles, he gave up two runs on five hits over six innings.
As the Phillies have lost seven of their past eight games, their lead atop the NL has been cut to a half-game over the Dodgers.
The Phillies had a hit against all three Dodgers relievers over the final three innings Monday but went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the game. They are just 4-12 since the All-Star break and look nothing like the team that swept Los Angeles in a three-game home series last month.
“I think we’re grinding right now. I think we’re just in a funk,” Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos said. “But I will say, our dugout was very good (Monday). All of our attention was on the field. … We were in the competition. It was a good baseball game. A couple things here, a couple things there and it changes.”
