Clayton Kershaw earns his first win of 2025 as | College News

ST. LOUIS — The Dodgers have despatched Clayton Kershaw to the mound to give a slumping workforce a elevate numerous instances during his 18-year profession. And they’ve hardly ever been disillusioned.

They did it again on a sultry Sunday afternoon in St. Louis and once again Kershaw delivered, incomes his first win of the season in a 7-3 victory over the Cardinals that broke a two-game shedding streak and ended a slide that had seen the Dodgers lose 5 of their final seven.

“He’s been a stopper for many years. He’s been a staff ace for many years. He’s going to the Hall of Fame,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned before the sport. “So he understands. And he’s going to be prepared.”

Especially after the Cardinals picked at an outdated wound just before the first pitch, utilizing the large scoreboard dealing with the Dodgers’ dugout to replay video of an offended Kershaw, fingers on knees and staring at the ground after giving up a series-winning home run to Matt Adams in Game 4 of the 2014 National League Division Series.

“It’s a little bush league, but I don’t expect anything less from these guys,” Kershaw mentioned. “So it’s no worries. No problem.”

Maybe. But Kershaw pitched like he had one thing to show, giving up just a run on six hits over 5 innings. He struck out seven, essentially the most he’s had in a recreation in precisely two years, leaving him just 17 strikeouts shy of 3,000 for his profession. And more importantly, he didn’t subject a stroll for the first time in 5 begins.

It was his best efficiency of his injury-delayed season.

“The results haven’t always been there, but I feel like there’s been a little bit of progress in each [start],” he mentioned. “Probably the biggest thing, I had a little bit better command.

“I felt like I had an idea where the ball was going. When it was going bad, I didn’t really know how to correct it. [Today] when I threw a bad one, I had some ideas on how to fix it with the next pitch. Pitching is just making the adjustment as quick as you can. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s getting better.”

An efficient Kershaw might help stabilize a Dodger rotation that has once again been scrambled forward of the workforce’s three-game collection with the Padres, which begins Monday. Right-hander Tony Gonsolin returned to the injured record Saturday with discomfort in his surgically repaired elbow, leaving the Dodgers with 14 pitchers on the IL and without a starter for Tuesday’s recreation in San Diego.

A scan of Gonsolin’s elbow on Saturday confirmed no structural harm, which was excellent news, as was Michael Kopech’s scoreless inning of reduction in his first look of the season. Kopech was activated from the injured record when Gonsolin went down.

“He was fantastic. Clearly his best outing yet,” Roberts mentioned of Kershaw. “I really didn’t feel like he was laboring trying to find something. He’s kind of back to who he is. It’s much needed.”

The left-hander hit 91.5 mph with his fastball Sunday and averaged 89.6 mph. He also had a good curve and a respectable slider.

Mookie Betts runs the bases after hitting a solo home run for the Dodgers in the seventh inning Sunday.

(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

“I felt like every once in a while I would reach back and had a little bit extra,” Kershaw mentioned of his velocity. “It’s not going to be amazing or anything, but I think at times it’s getting a little bit of life on it, making making guys foul some pitches get jammed a little bit.”

Kershaw also turned the first Dodger pitcher in the collection to get some help from his offense, which scored 4 instances in the first 4 innings and seven instances in the sport, essentially the most runs the workforce has scored in a recreation this month.

The Dodgers, who stranded 21 baserunners while going one for 25 with runners in scoring place in the first two video games in St. Louis, took their first lead of the collection in the second inning when Max Muncy, Will Smith and former Cardinal Tommy Edman all singled to heart forward of Hyeseong Kim’s two-run triple to proper.

They never seemed back after that, with a leadoff triple by Smith and a one-out double from Edman making it 4-0 in the fourth. Mookie Betts lined a two-out drive just over the wall in left in the seventh for his first homer since May 19 before the Dodgers closed out the scoring with two runs in a sloppy eighth inning that featured a single, two walks, two batters hit by pitches, a handed ball and a sacrifice fly from Edman, who was taking part in his first collection in St. Louis since being traded to Los Angeles in July.

Now the Dodgers transfer on to San Diego and their first collection of the 12 months with the Padres, who are just a recreation back in the NL West.

“We’re excited to play them,” mentioned Edman, who had his first multi-hit recreation in June, driving in three runs. “It’s kind of weird that we’ve gotten to this point without playing them or the Giants. We’ve got a lot of lot of games against those guys coming up. So we’re excited to get at it.”