The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday evening thanks to another spectacular performance from Clayton Kershaw.
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The future Hall of Famer tossed six strikeouts over five innings of work, allowing just two hits and one earned run. Kershaw also did this on four days rest, just the third time in 17 starts he has done so.
Manager Dave Roberts detailed how the decision to have Kershaw go out on short rest was to prioritize Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani getting a full week of rest between starts, and spoke on the value his southpaw brings simply by being open to this idea.
“Just for Clayton to be open to it, to be able to adjust his schedule, has been huge,” Roberts said. “And he’s performed admirably. I mean, above that. So, yeah, the guys are all in and understand kind of what we’re dealing with, as far as a rotation, and there’s got to be a little bit of give and take.”
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For a player of Kershaw’s stature to even consider pitching on shorter rest is commendable, but the production that the Dodgers are getting out of him this season feels closer to the past, healthier versions of the ace that fans watched for the past decade-plus.
He is working with a 3.06 ERA on the year across 88.1 innings of work. He has an ERA+ of 137, which is almost 40 percent higher than league average. Better yet, he is allowing the team’s current ace to get more rest and a three-time MVP to continue ramping up to his full-time duty on the mound.
There are not many pitchers like Kershaw in today’s game, and there may not ever be someone else like him on an MLB mound. But as his teammates will surely vouch for, there are not many you would want to be in the clubhouse over Kershaw, either.
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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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