The Colorado Rockies basked in the glory of a second day off in a five-day stretch Monday, following a run when they played 33 games in 34 days.
Rest and relaxation was as good of a way as any to prepare for a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that begins Tuesday night in Denver.
Los Angeles will send veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw (9-4, 2.72 ERA) to the mound against Colorado’s Connor Seabold (1-3, 5.88) in the opener.
Kershaw, 35, has dealt with plenty of injuries in his 16 seasons and is at a point in his career when he might be ready to give way to younger arms to carry the Dodgers. Instead, he has anchored an injury-riddled rotation.
Los Angeles starters Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Dustin May and Noah Syndergaard are all beset by injuries, which has put more responsibility onto Kershaw, who continues to show the form that has him destined for the Hall of Fame.
“He’s the only one standing from Opening Day,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For him to obviously realize that but accept the responsibility, but not add pressure to himself — it’s a skill that’s certainly been tested and learned. I just can’t imagine where we’d be without him.”
Kershaw has been at his best in June, going 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four starts. He has gone seven innings in three of those outings and 27 innings total.
“I get paid to pitch, and to pitch every fifth day or sixth day or whatever it is,” Kershaw said. “Those years in the past I feel like are aberrations. This is what it’s supposed to look like to be healthy and pitch.”
Kershaw has started 48 games against the Rockies, second only to his 55 starts against San Francisco in 57 appearances, and he is 26-11 against Colorado with a 3.40 ERA. He is 11-8 with a 4.82 ERA in 26 starts at Coors Field.
While Kershaw has nearly two seasons’ worth of starts against the Rockies alone, Seabold has only one relief appearance in his career against the Dodgers. That came April 3 at Los Angeles, when he was tagged for four runs on five hits in three innings.
The Newport Beach, Calif. native has been thrust into the Colorado rotation due to injuries. He was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in January, where he had six starts over two seasons. His last outing at Atlanta on June 17 was the worst start of his season, when he gave up nine runs on nine hits in three innings.
He was scheduled to start Wednesday at Cincinnati, but a sore right triceps put him on the shelf. It has improved enough for him to take the ball on Tuesday night.
Injuries have been a theme for the Rockies, but they received good news with first baseman C.J. Cron coming off the injured list on Monday. He missed 38 games with back muscle spasms.
“This is the school of hard knocks,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “A number of guys are going through it. You look at the number of players on our team with less than a year of service time or less than two years of service time.”
–Field Level Media