Clayton Kershaw continues hitless spring

PHOENIX — Clayton Kershaw continued his nearly spotless spring training with three scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Giants on Tuesday at Camelback Ranch.

The Dodgers’ ace left-hander did not allow a hit to San Francisco, and he has not allowed a hit in any of his first three starts this spring.

"Results really don't matter, but I guess it's good to see how hitters react to pitches,” Kershaw said. “If you're not giving up hits, that's a good thing. I'll take it, for sure.”

Kershaw did allow his first baserunner of the spring, a six-pitch, leadoff walk by Gorkys Hernandez in the first inning.

"He found a way to get some work out of the stretch,” manager Dave Roberts noted.

Hernandez was then caught stealing. Kershaw has faced the minimum 18 batters in his six Cactus League innings. He struck out three Giants on Tuesday.

"He had a little edge from that first pitch on,” Roberts said. “To see him work both sides of the plate with the fastball, that was good to see."

If results aren’t the best way to judge spring training -- just ask Justin Verlander — how does Kershaw measure his progress during camp?

"You just look at their swings, just understand if their just missing, or if they look comfortable taking good swings, even if they're not getting hits you might need to change some things,” Kershaw explained. “Belt took a pretty good swing but popped it straight up, and there were a couple hard foul balls, so there are a couple things to work on, for sure.”

Kershaw threw 35 pitches against the Giants, then simulated facing two more hitters in the bullpen to get up to his rough target of 45 pitches on the day.

With camps extended thanks to the World Baseball Classic this year, Kershaw is projected to make seven starts this spring instead of the usual six. Still almost four weeks from opening day, Kershaw still has four more starts to go in the Cactus League.

"I'm sure the position players will get sick of this pretty quick. They don't need that many at-bats. Same with the relievers. They don't need that many innings. Everybody is basically here for us [starting pitchers], and we appreciate it.”

Notes

Logan Forsythe was 2-for-3 with an RBI on Tuesday. and is 6-for-13 (.462) so far this spring. He has received some lubrication injections in his left knee as a preventative measure -- much like Justin Turner — and has played every other day so far this spring, outside of March 1.

"With this long camp, with a lot of our guys we don't want to overexpose them,” Roberts said. “With Logan and his history, just staying ahead of it, his body and knee feels good. I've had him on the every other day program, and that's worked for him.”

Adrian Gonzalez was 0-for-2 and played four innings at first base in his second game of the spring. He will now join Team Mexico for the World Baseball Classic. Mexico has an exhibition game on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields, and opens up play in Pool A of the WBC on Thursday night against Italy.

Old friend Jose Dominguez pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the save for the Giants. He is a non-roster invitee in San Francisco’s camp.

Up next

The Dodgers head to Maryvale to play the Brewers on Wednesday afternoon. Rich Hill starts against Junior Guerra for Milwaukee. Ross Stripling and Trevor Oaks are among the Dodgers also scheduled to pitch in that game.