Dodgers Interview: Kershaw Reflects on Sharp Outing
“Hopefully just keep trending,” he said. “That’s the goal.”
ST. LOUIS — After one of his sharpest outings of the season in the Dodgers’ 7–3 win over the Cardinals, Clayton Kershaw took a calm, measured tone in evaluating his five-inning, seven-strikeout performance—a return to vintage form for the future Hall of Famer and a hopeful sign for the Dodgers as summer approaches.
“I think every start, you know, the results haven’t always been there,” Kershaw said postgame, “but I feel like there’s been a little bit of progress with each one. So, this was another one that I felt like my stuff was starting to trend up a little bit.”
The left-hander scattered a handful of hits but didn’t issue a walk, a sign that his command—which he called the biggest difference—was finally locking in.
“Command was better overall, though. I think that was probably the biggest thing,” he said. “I had a little bit better command, which was good.”
It wasn’t a perfect outing—Kershaw pointed to too many full counts and the need to clean up two-strike execution—but the improvement was undeniable. After struggling to put hitters away in earlier starts, he saw a welcome uptick in swing-and-miss.
“Swing and misses are always good,” he said. “You don’t need strikeouts all the time, but if you have that ability, that’s definitely a good thing. So, good to see that in big situations.”
His offspeed pitches were noticeably sharper. The curveball, in particular, was more effective than in his recent outings, and he was able to use both breaking pitches with more precision.
“Curveball was a little bit better today—got some outs with that. Slider was okay today too,” he said. “Being able to shorten the curveball at times, make the slider go strike-to-ball a little bit more with two strikes—that helps.”
One subtle but important gain for Kershaw was his fastball velocity, which seemed to have a bit more zip despite the absence of a radar gun visible from the mound.
“Honestly, it’s hard to tell. I try to look sometimes—I couldn’t really see here that well,” Kershaw said with a slight smile. “But yeah, I mean, I felt like every once in a while I would reach back and had a little bit extra. It’s not going to be amazing or anything, but I think at times it’s getting a little bit of life on it.”
That life on the fastball led to some late jams and foul balls, which he called “the goal”—inducing weaker contact or missing barrels entirely.
Still, what may have meant the most to Kershaw—at least for a moment—was reaching a personal milestone. With his seventh strikeout of the day, he passed former teammate Zack Greinke for 20th place on the all-time strikeout list.
Asked if he was tracking milestones, he chuckled: “Freddy keeps reminding me—‘You passed Zack.’ Oh, no, but that I like. That’s good. I wanted to beat Zack. That’s good.” When asked if he would be calling Greinke to rub that in,”No,” he said with a grin. “But hopefully he finds out that I beat him and he texts me.”
It was a moment of levity from a pitcher who’s taken each step of his rehab and return with typical intensity. But make no mistake—Kershaw is locked in on the bigger picture.
“Hopefully just keep trending,” he said. “That’s the goal.”
If this version of Kershaw—pounding the zone, missing bats, mixing pitches, and commanding the game—is a sign of what’s to come, the Dodgers’ rotation just gained a powerful midseason upgrade.
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