Clayton Kershaw day by day: Shutting out the Cardinals

Welcome back to the Clayton Kershaw daily, where we look back at every single start of Kershaw’s career, one day at a time. His lone career start on May 19 came eight years ago today at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers hosted the Cardinals on May 19, 2012, the middle game of a three-game weekend series in Los Angeles. The big news of the day was second baseman Mark Ellis needing surgery to relieve pressure in his leg. He missed seven weeks, and I learned an important lesson of never clicking on image results when searching for a “fasciotomy.”

A lone Cardinal reached base against Kershaw in each of the first three innings of this game, one via error, but Kershaw stranded them all, then retired nine batters in a row. The Dodgers blew open a two-run lead in the seventh to a 6-0 advantage, thanks in part to a double by Kershaw, who scored.

Kershaw needed 117 pitches in this game, though it could have been even more were it not for double plays induced in both the eighth and ninth innings. But that wasn’t even his highest pitch count of the year. Kershaw threw 110 or more pitches in 16 of his 33 starts in 2012.

From my game recap:

Kershaw allowed six hits and no walks on Saturday, while striking out four He has an active streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings, and since the beginning of last season is 14-2 with a 1.67 ERA in 22 starts at Dodger Stadium.

This was the seventh career complete game for Kershaw, and his fourth career shutout.

The outing (W, 4-1): 9 IP, 6 hits, 4 strikeouts

Up next: Two starts, two wins on May 20