Clayton Kershaw day by day: The All-Star debut

Clayton Kershaw on July 12 has two regular season starts, with an All-Star Game appearance sandwiched in between.

Up first was July 12, 2009, with the Dodgers in Milwaukee to face the Brewers in the final game before the All-Star break. Kershaw came into this one with four scoreless starts in his last five games, and almost added another zero-fest in this one.

He walked five, but only allowed one hit through six innings. At 102 pitches, he was allowed to start the seventh inning for the eighth time in his career, but Mike Cameron quickly scuttled those plans with a first-pitch double. That chased Kershaw, and starter Hiroki Kuroda (remember, this was the final day before the break, with three off days before the next game) allowed a double to Bill Hall to charge Kershaw with a run.

The Dodgers still led 6-1, and held on for a 7-4 victory, Kershaw’s fourth straight successful decision.

Kershaw’s postgame quote was included in Brendan Scolari’s (!!!) game recap:

“That first inning I felt pretty good, I was just missing some spots by a little bit. The first inning is just always my rough inning. If I’m able to get out of that unscathed, I can kind of settle in after that. I threw too many pitches, obviously, but that’s another story.”

Kershaw’s first All-Star Game was in 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, and his turn in the National League came in the fifth inning, following Phillies teammates Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee (and reliever Tyler Clippard, who got the final out of the fourth). Kershaw pitched a spotless frame.

From my All-Star recap:

Kershaw pitched the top of the fifth, and retired the side on just eight pitches. David Ortiz struck out on a check swing, then Robinson Cano and Alex Avila grounded to first base. If Don Mattingly was watching this game at all — he said he try to watch part of the game during his few days off at his home in Indiana — I’m sure he was happy about the short outing for his Friday starter. Kershaw got the first hold by a Dodger in the All-Star Game since Eric Gagne in 2002.

The National League won, 5-1.

Kershaw’s last July 12 start, to date, came in 2013 against the Rockies at home, with future old friend Juan Nicasio getting the win for Colorado thanks to seven scoreless innings.

Kershaw pitched well, striking out 10, but his three runs allowed were more than enough for the Rockies, 3-0 winners.

Some notes from my game recap:

The good news for Clayton Kershaw on Friday night was that he retired 18 of the final 21 batters he faced, and had 10 strikeouts for the third time this season and 21st time of his career.

...

Kershaw had only allowed one run in his 19 fifth innings before Friday night, but the Rockies tacked on an insurance run in the fifth on Friday.

This is one of only three Dodgers losses for Kershaw in 20 career home starts against the Rockies. He’s 13-3 with a 1.90 ERA in those starts, with 152 strikeouts in 128 innings.

The outings

2009 (W, 7-5): 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 5 walks, 4 strikeouts

2011 All-Star Game: 1 IP, 1 strikeout

2013 (L, 8-6): 7 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts

Up next: Another single-start day