“I think once you get out there and you get into compete mode, that’s just what you know,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “Obviously, he’s never been in this situation before, but I expect it to go well and for him to do what he’s supposed to do.”
Kershaw fell short on both counts in a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins before a sellout crowd of 52,159, grinding through a wobbly four-inning, two-run, seven-hit, 90-pitch start in which he failed to provide much relief for a bullpen that had to cover eight innings in Monday night’s 12-inning victory.
The Dodgers offense was just as flat, going two for 12 with runners in scoring position, the combination of a shaky start and a failure to hit in the clutch ending the team’s six-game win streak.
Kershaw’s fastball-slider-curveball mix looked sharp at times — the 35-year-old left-hander struck out seven, walked one and induced 17 swinging strikes — but he threw only 57 pitches for strikes, hit a batter, committed a pitch-clock violation and balked a runner to second who eventually scored.
“He just wasn’t as crisp as he has been,” Roberts said. “I thought he was fighting himself. He couldn’t really find a rhythm. … After the second inning, I felt that he was more agitated, and you could see his frustration with that. There’s an intensity with him every time he takes the mound, but I think that agitation isn’t typical for him.”
If Kershaw, who fell to 6-3 with a 2.52 earned-run average this season, was out of sorts, it wasn’t because he had trouble keeping his emotions in check.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
“All good,” Kershaw said when asked if he took the mound with any different emotions in the wake of his mother’s death. “I just think it was a matter of I didn’t have good stuff tonight. That happens from time to time, for whatever reason. Everything physically felt good. The ball just wasn’t coming out like I wanted it to.”
Kershaw said he has made a decision on when he will go on the bereavement list but did not want to announce it Tuesday night.
“I’m gonna make my next start in St. Louis [on Sunday] and figure it out from there,” he said. “I just wanted to say thank you, everybody, for the condolences and everything this week. Fans, people, everybody reaching out. It’s been humbling to see how many people have reached out. She was a great lady.”
The Twins put Kershaw on his heels early when Donovan Solano led off the game with a double to left and scored on Kyle Farmer’s two-out RBI single to left for a 1-0 lead.
Kershaw struck out Carlos Correa with runners on first and third to end the second and Ryan Jeffers looking with a runner on third to end the third, but he was burned by a leadoff walk to Michael Taylor in the fourth.
Taylor took second on a balk, third on Joey Gallo’s single to right and scored on Willi Castro’s RBI single to left for a 2-0 lead. Minnesota pushed the lead to 3-0 off Shelby Miller in the fifth on Jeffers’ safety squeeze.
The Dodgers mustered only one run and six hits in six innings against Twins starter Bailey Ober. They did not lack chances.
Mookie Betts doubled to lead off the first, and Max Muncy doubled to lead off the fourth, but neither scored. Muncy took third on J.D. Martinez’s single, putting runners on first and third with no outs, but James Outman and David Peralta struck out.
With .179-hitting Miguel Rojas up, the Dodgers attempted a double steal, with Martinez stopping before second and Muncy breaking for home when the throw of Jeffers, the Twins catcher, went through. The gadget play did not work, second baseman Solano fielding Jeffers’ throw and firing home to nail Muncy.
The Dodgers pulled to within 3-1 in the fifth when Rojas doubled and scored on Freddie Freeman’s bloop single to center, but they failed to capitalize on another leadoff double — this one by Peralta off reliever Brock Stewart — in the seventh, the inning ending with pinch-hitter Chris Taylor flying out with the bases loaded.