Fifth Time’s the Charm: Clayton Kershaw Goes for 100th Win Again

After a shocking two-out ninth inning blown save on Thursday night, the Dodgers want to wash away the rare home defeat and hope for sunny skies at Dodger Stadium on Friday night. The Dodgers have won ten home series in a row, but that streak could be snapped if Colorado gets to the Dodgers bullpen again.

Clayton Kershaw (1-2, 4.26) vs. Eddie Butler (2-3, 3.73)

Yimi Garcia was amazing this season until he hit a bump in the road the last two games which saw him allow homeruns in each of them including the heartbreaking Carlos Gonzalez three-run shot which helped the Rockies snap their 11-game losing streak on Friday night.

Rain, tarps and trouble. The Dodgers were rolling right along behind a strong outing from Brett Anderson, but the lengthy rain delay in the fifth inning shuffled the pitching and put the focus on the “struggling” bullpen. the bullpen, which has still been outstanding this season despite a bad game or two, will get a big boost when closer Kenley Jansen returns as early as Friday.

Jansen, who underwent foot surgery to remove a growth this offseason, could see action for the first time in a major league game since the 2014 NLDS. Although Yimi has become a favorite of mine during this early part of the season with his late inning dominance, he still has only pitched 26 innings at the major league level. The hard throwing lefty is surely going to have a great career with the Dodgers, but he was no match for the veteran Carlos Gonzalez in Friday’s rainy loss.

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One of the issues this season for the Dodgers has been that their rotation has yet to pitch eight full innings or more in any start. Clayton Kershaw, who pitched an incredible 6 complete games in 2014, has not pitched more than 7 1/3 innings this season. When the starters cannot go deep in the game, it puts an added tax on the bullpen. Kershaw only made it through 5 2/3 innings in his last start, a no-decision, against the Rockies at Coors Field. During the snowy Dodger win, Kersh allowed 5 runs on 8 hits with 5 strikeouts and 4 walks on 110 pitches. It was his worst start of the year even though the Dodger offense came through.

Lineup:

Pederson CF
Rollins SS
Kendrick 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Turner 3B
Grandal C
Ethier RF
Van Slyke LF
Kershaw P

Fifth time’s a charm. This will be Kershaw’s fifth attempt to capture that elusive 100th career win. He’s only won one game this season which was back on April 17th against the Rockies. Typically, Kersh pitches well against Colorado, and he is 14-5 with a 3.26 ERA in 28 starts against them.

May 14, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Yimi Garcia (63) sits in the dugout after giving up a three-run home run to Colorado Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez (not pictured) in the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium. The Rockies won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

One of the problems Kershaw has had this season is giving up homeruns. He’s allowed 5 homeruns already when he only allowed 9 homeruns all season last year. Troy Tulowitzki has hit 3 homeruns off Kersh in the past, and CarGo has hit 2 homeruns against him.

The Rockies will be sending young right-hander Eddie Butler to the mound. The Dodgers defeated the Rockies and Butler on May 8th in Colorado. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 3 strikeouts and 4 walks on 88 pitches. Butler is 0-3 overall against the Dodgers with a 6.64 ERA in 4 career starts. Adrian Gonzalez has hit a homerun off Butler.

Even though it’s frustrating to see the bullpen struggle a little bit after they helped propel the Dodgers on their hot start to the season, Adrian Gonzalez’s base running blunder and Jimmy Rollins‘ fielding error didn’t help matters in the loss on Thursday. The Dodgers offense was unable to comeback this time, and there’s going to be plenty more flip-flopped games to come when the Dodgers bullpen falters.

Kershaw’s slider hasn’t kicked in yet, and the M.V.P. will need to make adjustments in order to compensate should his off-speed pitches fail to be sharp again. It’s pretty astonishing that the Dodgers have fared so well so far this season with a rotation in shambles with critical injuries to Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy and a less than typcial Kershaw. The offense has really neutralized any pitching problems, but the Dodgers cannot win a championship without a dominant Clayton Kershaw.

The bullpen is still very good. The Dodger relief squad have struck out the most batters in the league (121), and they have the second-best combined ERA (2.24).

Run support for Kershaw, please.

Go Blue!