Clayton Kershaw Struck By Line Drive On Side Of His Face (VIDEO)
Clayton Kershaw was on the mound Friday with the Los Angeles Dodgers facing the Oakland Athletics at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz. The Dodgers’ ace made his fourth start of the spring and looking to continue stretching out his pitch count.
Kershaw tossed two perfect innings, which included back-to-back strikeouts of Marcus Semien and Stephen Vogt to end the second inning. Then with one out and a runner on first base in the bottom of the third, the Dodgers held their collective breaths as Kershaw took a comebacker off the side of his face after a failed attempt to deflect or catch the ball with his glove.
Trainer Stan Conte immediately ran out to the mound to check on the left-hander, who remained down while holding the side of his face. Kershaw eventually rose to his feet as Conte continued to examine him and appeared to administer a concussion test.
Kershaw threw a few warm-up pitches and remained in the game to record the final two outs of the inning. He also returned to the mound in the fourth and retired the A’s in order as the Dodgers held a 2-1 lead. Kershaw remained in the game to complete his scheduled five innings of work.