Dodgers push Kershaw's next start back to Friday

WASHINGTON >> Clayton Kershaw will not make his scheduled start today. The Dodgers have decided to push him back until Friday.

The move gives Kershaw nine days off between starts after pitching with diminished velocity against the Miami Marlins in his most recent start Tuesday. Kershaw gave up five hits and walked five in five innings against the Marlins with a fastball averaging only 88.4 mph.

But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts insisted the decision to delay Kershaw’s next start was not prompted by any physical issues with Kershaw. The 35-year-old left-hander missed six weeks earlier this season with an unspecified shoulder injury. Since returning, the Dodgers have not let him pitch more than five innings or throw more than 84 pitches in a start, giving him at least five days off between each of his past five starts.

The move is aimed at allowing the Dodgers to “set things up down the road” as they prepare for the postseason, Roberts said.

“It is what it is, where he’s at, like we’ve said,” Roberts said to questions about Kershaw’s health motivating the move.

“That (lining up the rotation) is the thought behind it. He is where he’s at (physically).”

The move would leave time for Kershaw to make no more than three more starts this season — most likely Friday in Seattle, on Sept. 21 at home against the San Francisco Giants, and Sept. 27 in Colorado. That would potentially give Kershaw nine days off again before Game 1 of the NL Division Series.

“I don’t think it could hurt,” Roberts said of the benefits of extra rest for Kershaw. “It’s like if we’re weighing everything in, it just made the most sense. There’s no downside to what we’re doing. That’s kind of the thought.”

Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior wouldn’t call Kershaw’s diminished velocity over his past two starts a red flag warning of more trouble with the left-hander’s shoulder. But it certainly wasn’t what he expected to see.

“I think that was surprising to all of us,” Prior said. “The Arizona game (Kershaw’s Aug. 29 start), he was effective for five innings and pitched well but probably not up to the standards that he’s set for himself and he knows that. But the velocity was something that kind of came out of nowhere. Or at least was unexpected for everybody.”

Kershaw averaged a season-low 89.6 mph with his fastball against the Diamondbacks but held them to one run on three hits and three walks in five innings. In his next start on Tuesday in Miami, the velocity was down even further, to 88.4 mph. It was the secondlowest of Kershaw’s career. The only time it was lower (May 2018), Kershaw went on the Injured List with a back injury.

Kershaw insisted after the game in Miami that his shoulder feels “fine.” The focus in the days since then has been on his delivery, Prior said.

“There’s some stuff in the delivery that hopefully will free him up to maximize and get his timing back,” the pitching coach said. “I think so much of it is a timing situation. I think that’s where you get into a situation where guys who’ve had whether it’s elbow or shoulder or anything in the middle of a season you’re trying to come back and you do things because you feel fine, but you just don’t know subconsciously what you might have tweaked to get back to that point.”

Prior acknowledged that Kershaw’s shoulder might be a factor in the diminished quality of his pitches in Miami.

“I’m sure it’s not zero. But to say how much, it’s hard to tell,” Prior said.

Miller light

By contrast, rookie righthander Bobby Miller finished last season with a shoulder injury that he acknowledges bothered him during the offseason as well. He was handled carefully this spring and started his season late.

But he has thrown a career-high 116 innings between Triple-a and the majors this season and said, “Honestly right now, I’m feeling better than ever.”

“My arm is bouncing back great. My shoulder is bouncing back great,” he said after his start Saturday. “My body feels outstanding right now.”

Miller credits a number of factors for that, including the constant attention of the Dodgers training staff, an improved diet that allowed him to drop from “240, 245” pounds last season to 230 this year and a refined approach to his work between starts.

“Coming up in the minor leagues, the big thing for me was I would touch the mound a couple times between starts,” he said. “Now I just do one bullpen (session) in between starts. Sometimes I shorten them up. I just think I was touching the mound too much between starts in the minor leagues. That was probably part of the reason why I got hurt last year.

Fresh arm

Right-hander Gus Varland was placed on the Injured List with right knee inflammation before Sunday’s game and righty Wander Suero was promoted from Triple-a Oklahoma City.

Varland was 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA in eight appearances with the Dodgers this season, including the loss in Saturday’s 11-inning defeat by the Nationals.

Suero made four appearances for the Dodgers in May but has spent most of the season with OKC, going 5-3 with 16 saves and a 3.95 ERA over 45 appearances.