It was the same high wind-up. The same right leg kick. The same over the top delivery.
What wasn’t the same about Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday night: His usually reliable fastball velocity.
At 35 years old, Kershaw long ago lost the mid-90s mph life his fastball used to boast. In his last two starts, however, his velocity readings have tanked to near-career lows — reviving sudden questions about a lingering shoulder injury that, after costing him all of July, is threatening to impact his performance for the rest of the campaign.
After averaging a season-low 89.6 mph with his fastball last week, Kershaw’s four-seamer was sitting at 88.4 mph Tuesday, failing to eclipse 90.0 mph with even a single pitch according to MLB’s Baseball Savant system.
The left-hander still managed a decent outing in the Dodgers’ 6-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.
He gave up only three runs in five innings, despite yielding five hits and matching a season-high with five walks. He got a couple key double-plays, and had the Dodgers up by one entering the fifth, seemingly poised to earn a second-straight winning decision.
But, on his 74th offering of the night, Kershaw’s inconsistent fastball finally caught up with him.
Freddie Freeman walks back to the dugout after striking out in the first inning of a 6-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
(Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press)
With a runner on first, he tried starting Marlins veteran Josh Bell with a first-pitch fastball. The throw, however, was right in the middle of the strike zone. And the velocity — an unremarkable 88.2 mph — made it a meatball Bell demolished with a thunderous swing.
By the time Kershaw turned around to watch the two-run homer sail out to center field, he was already wearing a look of resignation.
And while the Dodgers loss wasn’t sealed until the eighth — when reliever Ryan Yarbrough gave up back-to-back homers in what had been a tied game — it was Kershaw’s declining stuff that set off the loudest alarm bells for their season.
