Clayton Kershaw, 33, last pitched on Saturday, July 3, against the Washington Nationals, giving up three runs over four innings before an almost two hour rain delay ended his night. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Kershaw felt discomfort in his elbow playing catch during the week.
Put on the Injured List with forearm inflammation before Wednesday’s game, Roberts and the Dodgers felt that “It was best to get ahead of it and take care of him. He’s a big part of what we’re doing. So leveraging the All-Star break just makes a lot of sense.”
Returning to Los Angeles, an MRI early Friday morning revealed no structural damage to the elbow.
Kershaw was scheduled to start today against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but his IL stint means that another bullpen game, the Dodgers’ third in six days, will take place tonight.
Thin on starting pitching depth, the Dodgers are no doubt grateful that Kershaw’s injury doesn’t appear to be serious nor long-term. In terms of filling the pitching rotation, Roberts answered a question about David Price, who will be tasked with starting today’s bullpen game, entering the rotation at this point in the season.
“That’s a fair assumption, given where we’re at with the roster.”
With Dustin May out for the season due to a torn UCL and Trevor Bauer currently on administrative leave due to ongoing investigations by MLB and police into sexual assault allegations against him, the Dodgers get some much needed good news about their starting pitcher rotation with clarity about Kershaw’s arm injury. Looking ahead to the trade deadline at the end of the month, the Dodgers appear to be buyers and hope to bolster their pitching rotation heading into the last months of the season.
