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Today on the Clayton Kershaw daily, we take a walk on the wild side, back to April 13, 2010, the Dodgers’ home opener against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.
This was the second start of the season for the 22-year-old Kershaw, and the 53rd start of his career.
Four different Dodgers homered in this one, and they outslugged Arizona for the win, 9-5. What a way to make a living. It snapped a long winless streak for Kershaw, who was walking too many at this point to pitch deeper into games.
From my game recap:
Clayton Kershaw got his first win since last July 18, a span of 12 regular season starts, but it wasn’t pretty. Kershaw allowed just two runs, but he walked a tightrope in his 5 1/3 innings, walking five hitters while striking out seven. Before this season, Kershaw had not walked more than eight hitters in any two consecutive starts. However, in his first two starts this season, Kershaw has walked 11 batters in just 10 innings.
Kershaw walked six batters six days earlier, and his 11 walks in his first two outings of 2010 are his most for any two-start stretch in his career. His career walk rate after this start was 12.6 percent. Since then, in 292 games, it’s 5.5 percent.
Fun fact, also from the game recap: this was “the third straight home opener win for the Dodgers, and the 13th straight for Joe Torre, dating back to 1998.”
The outing (W, 1-0): 5⅓ IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, 5 walks, 7 strikeouts
Up next: A gem from 2017