Steve Webb
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA — Clayton Kershaw took another important step on his road back from the IL on Sunday, making his first rehab start for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
Of course, whenever a big leaguer shows up for a rehab start at a minor league park, it’s big news. So much more so when a future Hall of Famer makes a start in a low-A stadium used to seeing the rawest of raw prospects. So naturally, it was a sold-out house of nearly 5,000 fans at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucumonga, a small city just east of the LA metro area.
Kershaw did not disappoint. He pitched four innings of work in the assignment, a little more than the three that Dave Roberts had told the media to expect. During the start, he gave up one homerun plus a double off the wall, and another long drive that was tracked down by centerfielder Jake Vogel. But it this one it looked like Kersh was concentrating on locating his pitches in the zone, as he landed 44 of 59 pitches for strikes. When you do that, some prospect is bound to run into one or two of them.
However, even in the zone, the stuff was working, as he struck out seven in just those four innings of work. After the outing, Kershaw greeting the fans and told reporters that he hoped that it would be his only rehab start and that the next time he takes the mound, it will be for the big league club.
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