PHOENIX — Clayton Kershaw could certainly pitch again for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, but at 36 the end of his career as an elite left-handed pitcher is obviously near its end.
Kershaw left the mound in the second inning Friday night after Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks hit a long home run down the right field line on a 67 mph curveball. The latest injury is a bone spur on his left big toe that made it so painful he couldn’t push off the pitching rubber with that foot.
It was the second time in his seven starts since coming back this season from left shoulder surgery that he didn’t strike out a batter, leaving him 32 short of the cherished 3,000 mark. Kershaw threw 27 pitches in the game and D-backs hitters swung and missed at only two of them.
Kershaw was placed back on the 15-day injured list Saturday when the swelling and soreness didn’t diminish overnight, possibly sidelining him for the rest of this season when his current contract at $5 million comes to an end.
“It’s obviously not good,” a very solemn Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers had to use seven relievers over the course of the last eight innings just to hold on to a 10-9 win at Chase Field. “There’s swelling. There’s pain. He’s doing everything he can to get through it.”
Roberts went on to say Kershaw had “nothing, no legs” and that there was “no other alternative but to take him out after that Carroll at-bat.”
It’s a sad state of affairs for a pitcher with 212 wins, 2,968 strikeouts and a 2.50 ERA. Kershaw once whiffed 9.7 batters per nine innings over the course of 17 seasons with an array of pitches including an electric fastball. On Friday night, he barely touched 90 mph, hitting Jake McCarthy with a fastball that clocked at 90 during the first inning. But time is undefeated against all athletes. “He has a lot of miles on him,” Roberts said.
However, five years after his career is over, he’ll have this to look forward to: “He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer,” his teammate Freddie Freeman said.
At the same time, Roberts has Kershaw’s replacement next season playing for him right now: Shohei Ohtani. The left-handed hitter set an MLB record Friday night when he smacked his 43rd homer and stole his 43rd base, the first player to ever do that in the same season. While Ohtani, 30, has been ripping through the league as a designated hitter, he’s been rehabbing his right arm after last year’s second reconstructive surgery on that elbow and plans to return to pitch again next season.
“His progression is great,” Roberts said about Ohtani. “He’s coming along nicely. He’s been off the mound. He’s continuing to build up a foundation for him to be ready for spring training. No doubt, he’ll be back to two-way next year.”
Ohtani didn’t make himself available to comment after the game, but he’s been the one constant for the Dodgers as they try to win their 11th National League West title in the past 12 years and fourth in a row. They lead the D-backs and San Diego Padres by five games.
While most of the team’s key players have suffered through injuries, Ohtani’s nearing a career-high number of plate appearances. He leads the NL in runs scored, homers, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+ on his way to what figures to be his third regular season MVP and first in the NL. He won last year in the American League, his last playing for the Los Angeles Angels.
From a marketing and baseball standpoint, he’s been worth every penny of the 10-year, $700 million deal the Dodgers gave him as a free agent this past offseason.
On Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers gave away 40,000 bobbleheads of Ohtani holding his dog, Decoy, many fans waiting on line for hours just to procure one.
The pièce de résistance was Ohtani and Decoy throwing out the first pitch. Ohtani gave the dog the ball while standing on the mound. The dog then carried the ball to Ohtani, who had trotted behind home plate. Ohtani then hit his 42nd homer and stole two more bases.
You can’t make this stuff up.
The Dodgers have signed a myriad of marketing deals with Japanese firms after inking Ohtani and fellow Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to free agent contracts worth $1.025 billion. The problem is Yamamoto hasn’t pitched since June 15 because of a sore right shoulder. He’s one of eight pitchers on the injured list.
Freeman, Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor, and Max Muncy are among the key players to have all missed significant time because of various injuries. Freeman right now is playing with a hairline fracture in his right middle finger.
But Ohtani just keeps producing.
“He’s not pitching and he’s very good at the DH role,” Roberts said. “It shouldn’t be as much of a workload, but for him to get into the batter’s box four or five times a night, it gives us a very good chance to win.”
That brings us back to Kershaw, who returned July 25 and has thrown only 30 innings this season. His presence on the postseason roster is at best in jeopardy at this point.
Roberts said he’s well aware he can’t start him in a game again with similar results to Friday night. It has too many detrimental ripple effects on the bullpen.
“It’s super frustrating,” Kershaw said. “I put the team in a tough spot with the bullpen having to cover eight innings. They did a great job, but I’m disappointed I was the culprit of that.”
This story has been updated in the fourth paragraph with Clayton Kershaw being placed back on the 15-day injured list on Saturday.
