Clayton Kershaw day by day: Hit parade

In his only career July 6 start, Clayton Kershaw was cruising along just like the bulk of his July starts, before things went awry.

On July 6, 2012 the Dodgers were in Arizona on a Friday night, the second game of a four-game weekend set. Kershaw only allowed one hit and one walk through his first five innings.

This is normal for Kershaw, who owns a 1.70 career ERA in July, with 32 of his 57 starts during the month allowing zero or one run.

The Dodgers led 2-0 in this one, but then things went off the rails.

From my game recap:

Clayton Kershaw was sailing along nicely through five innings. He needed 79 pitches to that point, but had allowed just one hit and one walk, to go along with his six strikeouts. It extended his scoreless streak against the Diamondbacks to 17 consecutive innings, dating back to last season.

But that all ended in the sixth inning.

One night after the Dodgers burned the Diamondbacks with four consecutive hits in the first inning, Arizona turned the trick in the sixth inning to end Kershaw’s night. Those four hits came with one out after catcher Henry Blanco walked to open the inning, and was highlighted by Justin Upton’s two-run triple. A Jamey Wright wild pitch gave the Diamondbacks another run and a 5-2 lead.

This is one of just five July starts for Kershaw allowing five or more runs. Those were all the runs Arizona scored that day, but they were enough in the 5-3 win.

The outing (L, 6-5): 5⅔ IP, 5 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

Up next: Those poor Mets