Clayton Kershaw day by day: 4 starts & an All-Star Game

July 15 has been a busy day for Clayton Kershaw in his career, with four regular season starts and an All-Star Game.

The Dodgers were in St. Louis on July 15, 2010, facing the Cardinals before they became a nemesis. Kershaw struggled from the jump. From my game recap:

Clayton Kershaw walked the first two batters of the game, and it was downhill from there. He was unable to last through the fifth inning, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. He also had a career-low one strikeout, the first time in 70 career starts he hasn’t struck out at least two batters.

Kershaw had more walks than strikeouts nine times in 83 starts through the 2010 season, and has only done it once in 261 starts since.

In his career, including the playoffs, Kershaw is 3-6 with a 4.23 ERA in 11 starts in St. Louis.

In 2011, the Dodgers were in Arizona on July 15, and were cruising.

Kershaw struck out 11 D-backs in seven scoreless innings on May 13, and it looked like more of the same in this one, at least until the seventh.

From my game recap:

Heading into the seventh inning, with Kershaw nursing a 6-0 lead, this looked like just another shutout for the Dodgers’ starting staff. However, a one-out error by Juan Uribe started a rally for Arizona, who pushed across a run with two outs. Then, Kershaw served up a shot to center field to Xavier Nady, a three-run home run to cut the lead to 6-4.

Kershaw had a 1.42 ERA against Arizona in four starts in 2011.

Kershaw’s fourth straight All-Star Game was in 2014, in Minnesota. He did not start the game.

Kershaw was firmly entrenched as the best pitcher at baseball at this time, and had a 1.78 ERA at the break. But Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright was close enough at 1.83 and had one more win (12) than Kershaw (11), and since they went to the World Series in 2013, manager Mike Matheny got to make the call who started the All-Star Game, and to the victors go the spoils.

From my All-Star recap:

Clayton Kershaw didn’t start, but the man who did - Adam Wainwright - allowed three runs in the first inning.

Kershaw pitched the second inning and retired all three batters he faced. He got Orioles outfielder Adam Jones to pop out to third base, struck out Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson, and got Royals catcher Salvador Perez to ground out to third base.

Kershaw was idle on July 15 until 2018, when he faced the Angels at Dodger Stadium., a game with dueling three-run rallies that gave Kershaw a no-decision.

From Craig Minami’s game recap:

Clayton Kershaw helped himself with a single to right to score Taylor and make it a three-run inning.

Kershaw, who struck out Jefry Marté with the bases loaded in the first inning, would give up a first pitch for a three-run homer to Marté in the fourth inning that tied the game.

Kiké Hernandez homered for the lead in the seventh, and Andrew Toles drove in an insurance run in the eighth for a 5-3 win.

The Dodgers were in Philadelphia last July 15, and Kershaw was wild from the jump. He walked two, allowed a single, and threw two wild pitches in the first inning but happened to keep the Phillies off the board in that frame.

It was only the seventh time Kershaw threw two wild pitches in a game, and the fourth time he did so in the same inning.

The Phillies actually led this game early, thanks to a Scott Kingery solo home run in the third, but it quickly became a laugher in the other direction. The Dodgers scored six runs in the fourth, and added five in the eighth in a 16-2 romp.

Kershaw struck out seven in his six innings for the win.

See also: Liz Islas’ game recap

The outings

2010 (L, 9-5): 4⅓ IP, 8 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 3 walks, 1 strikeout

2011 (W, 10-4): 7 IP, 5 hits, 4 unearned runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts

2014 All-Star Game: 1 IP, 1 strikeout

2018: 6⅔ IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 4 walks, 8 strikeouts

2019 (W, 8-2): 6 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

Up next: One more All-Star Game