Kershaw back to DL with back issue

Dodgers ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw was diagnosed with a strained muscle in his lower back and placed on the 10-day disabled list on Friday.

Sidelined for most of May because of biceps tendinitis, Kershaw left his outing Thursday against the Phillies after five innings as his fastball velocity sagged into the upper 80s.

This is his third significant back injury in the last three seasons. The left-hander missed five weeks with a similar strain in 2017. He suffered a herniated disk in 2016 that was the first sign of significant issues with his back.

Kershaw’s start this week was his first after nearly a month on the disabled list with left bicep tendinitis. He said Thursday that he’s “frustrated, disappointed I can’t contribute to the team. Being on the DL’s no fun.”

Kershaw is 1-4 this season with a 2.76 ERA spanning eight starts.

The story is the potentially huge chunk of the Dodgers’ hopes that might have disappeared with the best pitcher on the planet after he slipped into the dugout amid the late-afternoon shadows Thursday.

In the previous two seasons the Dodgers were a combined 40-8 in games he has started. This season they are 2-6 when he pitches, and now might have to climb out of a 26-30 hole without him for a significant period of time.

With Kershaw going on the DL, it means four-fifths of the Dodgers’ opening-day rotation is sidelined, including lefties Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu and right-hander Kenta Maeda.

Kershaw, 30, can opt out of the final two seasons of his sevenyear, $215 million contract this winter.

The team recalled right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart to take Kershaw’s place on the roster.