Dodgers’ Kershaw debuts with spotless inning
Even though it was just one inning and 12 pitches, it was a good enough start for Clayton Kershaw.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ace helped begin the team’s exhibition season Saturday in a 5-3 win against the Dodgers’ spring training co-tenants, the Chicago White Sox.
The plan, as explained by manager Dave Roberts before the game, was to have Kershaw work only one inning. He dispatched the White Sox in order, retiring Tim Anderson on a popup, striking out Melky Cabrera and getting Jose Abreu on a ground ball. He was relieved by Alex Wood in the next inning.
“It was OK. I threw one changeup that was terrible. That’s what I got mad about,” Kershaw said after his outing before 8,474 fans.
“I got behind every batter today. But the results were OK, I got three outs, I’ll take it for today and get ready for the next one.”
Kershaw said he will go two or three innings in his next start and likely go up one per outing from there. He is on track to pitch the April 3 opener at home against San Diego, tying Don Sutton’s franchise record of seven straight opening-day starts.
The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner was possibly headed to his best season last year when a herniated disk sidelined him from June 26 to Sept. 9. He returned in September and finished with a 12-4 record and 1.69 earnedrun average. He pitched 149 innings, 13 short of qualifying for what would have been his fifth ERA title.
This first outing was shorter than usual because of the World Baseball Classic, which caused an earlier start to spring training.
“We communicated all winter so there’s no surprise for us where he’s at right now,” Roberts said. “If we wouldn’t have known his history we’d think nothing of it, he looks great. He obviously adjusted some of his off-season workouts but yeah, he looks great.”
Kershaw proclaimed that the back issue is “all good.”
“Every year is different,” he said. “I never want to take for granted it’ll be there when the season starts. When something doesn’t work in spring I’m going to stress out about it and worry about it until I fix it.” Kershaw
KVITFJELL, NORwAy Canadian Erik Guay captured a bronze medal in a men’s World Cup superG on Sunday.
The Mont-Tremblant, Que., veteran led at every interval of his final run until the last one, crossing the finish line 0.23 seconds behind Italy’s Peter Fill.
“I’ve been feeling good all week,” Guay said. “It’s great to cap off the weekend with a third-place and head home with some hardware.
“I like this course because it has a bit of everything. It has some flatter sections, rolls, some challenging terrain at the Guay bottom and tactical sections. I’m looking to keep this momentum going into World Cup finals.”
Guay’s third superG World Cup podium moved him into eighth place in the overall standings. The medal comes on the heels of a gold and silver for Guay at the recent world championships in Switzerland.
Austrian Hannes Reichelt was second, 0.1 seconds back. Manuel OsborneParadis of Invermere, B.C., was 10th, Ottawa’s Dutin Cook was 32nd and Calgary’s Tyler Werry was 44th.
“I’m happy with tenth, it was a good result here,” OsborneParadis said. “I had a battle in my head the whole way down about how much risk I could take. I knew I needed a good enough result to make World Cup Finals and this tenth-place finish has bumped me up in the world rankings.”
Reigning Olympic Kjetil Jansrud of Norway secured the overall super-G title on home snow, finishing seventh with one more race on the season schedule.
It’s Jansrud’s second career super-G title, but the sixth in a row for Norwegian skiers.
The result caps a strong week for Jansrud, which also saw him win a downhill Saturday and take the World Cup lead in that event with one race remaining.
With files from The Associated Press