Dodgers fall to Brewers but eyes are on Kershaw
The ace pitches five innings, giving up two hits, in a rehab stint in Oklahoma City.
The big news for the Dodgers on Saturday was not at Dodger Stadium. The main event took place 1,300 miles to the east, where the news was so big it was on the front page of the Oklahoman.
There were three big pictures on the front page, one of a power generator tipping over amid the wind and rain of Hurricane Harvey, two of a power-generating lefthanded pitcher.
Clayton Kershaw was in town. One night only. The Oklahoma City Dodgers sold out every seat. Then they put standing-room tickets on sale, and they sold out all of those too.
They sold 13,106 tickets in all, the largest crowd since the ballpark’s inaugural season 19 years ago.
In Los Angeles, as the Dodgers prepared to play the Milwaukee Brewers, the Dodgers’ manager admitted he would be asking for regular updates from Kershaw’s rehabilitation start in Oklahoma City.
“He’s arguably the best player in baseball,” Dave Roberts said. “I haven’t had too many best players in baseball go on rehab assignments.”
That gave the Dodgers some good news. In Los Angeles, the Dodgers lost 3-0. In Oklahoma City, the triple-A Dodgers lost 4-0. No one much cared in either case, since Kershaw completed five spectacular innings and pronounced himself fit to return to the major leagues.
“This was fun,” Kershaw told reporters after the first triple-A appearance of his 11year pro career. “I hope I don’t ever do it again, but it was fun.”
In the fourth inning in Los Angeles, as the Dodger Stadium sound system cranked up Kershaw’s warmup song, the video board displayed highlights of his performance at Oklahoma City. It made sense. Nothing that happened in Los Angeles could be as important as what happened in Oklahoma City.
It gave the major league game an odd sort of JV feeling. The Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, was in Las Vegas. The best pitcher on the planet was in Oklahoma.
The crowd at Dodger Stadium was reduced to counting down toward the playoffs and giggling as players were introduced with the nicknames on their backs, with the Dodgers pitcher Ross “Chicken Strip” Stripling facing Brewers third baseman Travis “Mayor of Ding Dong City” Shaw.
The “Wild Horse” did his part to excite the home fans. In the second inning, Yasiel Puig smashed a ground ball down the line, and no one would have been upset had he stopped at first base with a single. Instead, Puig charged to second for the double, drew a throw, then scampered to third base and drew another throw, this one for an error.
In the sixth inning, Puig electrified the crowd by leaning over the short fence near the right-field foul pole and robbing Domingo Santana of a home run. By that time, however, Orlando Arcia had hit a two-run home run. Later, Neil Walker delivered a run-scoring double.
There were no lasting repercussions for the Dodgers. They still lead the National League West by 20 games.
However, in the unlikely but still possible event they meet the Brewers in the playoffs, they might be wary of Zach Davies, who pitched seven shutout innings Saturday. Davies has pitched 13 innings against the Dodgers this season without giving up a run.
The Dodgers used six pitchers in what they called a “bullpen game,” in this case a euphemism for “holding this spot for Kershaw.”
Kershaw is expected to return next weekend in San Diego, ready to reclaim his major league lead in earnedrun average and take another shot at leading the Dodgers to the promised land of the Fall Classic.
Kershaw had made clear he would have just as soon pitched his five innings Saturday in the major leagues, and his performance in Oklahoma City showed as much. He faced 16 batters, striking out eight and walking none.
He gave up two hits. One was an infield single, after which Kershaw promptly picked off the proud owner of the single. The other hit was a home run by Jorge Soler, a fallen Cuban prospect signed the same year as Puig and once considered on par with him.
Kershaw offered no detailed explanation for his one bad pitch.
“Hit a homer,” Kershaw told reporters. “Happens.”