Kershaw settles in after 'frustrating' frame

After two games during which runs seemingly poured out of the Dodgers dugout, Los Angeles couldn’t string together enough chances to pull ahead of the Braves in a 6-4 loss at Truist Park on Saturday night as Clayton Kershaw took his first career regular-season loss to Atlanta.

The Dodgers’ offense has swung hot bats lately, and they’ve been typically patient at the plate, recording 18 walks in two games leading up to Saturday. But five hits and two walks weren't enough against the Braves.

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Kershaw was working with a one-run lead in the third inning, despite the Dodgers not collecting a hit, thanks to two Braves defensive miscues and a hit-by-pitch in the first inning. But an RBI single from Freddie Freeman and two-run doubles from Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson flipped the script.

"Tough inning, not what you want to do,” Kershaw said. “Frustrating for me. Battled as best I could and got through six, which I guess was somewhat of a positive, but just a frustrating inning.”

Kershaw needed 33 pitches to get through the troublesome frame as he faced nine batters. He got out of the inning with a strikeout on his slider, but the five earned runs were the most he’s allowed in a single inning in 2021.

All five runs Kershaw allowed were with two outs. While he was able to put the inning behind him and fall into a better rhythm as the game progressed, he was only able to produce 16 swings-and-misses among his 95 pitches, per Statcast.

"I just thought that in that inning he was just missing. Just lost command, didn't have the arm-side command,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I thought a few times he tried to go with the fastball arm side, just couldn't stick it, he was losing it wide left. The inning spun out, but I think that we’ve got to give Clayton credit for going six innings and keeping those guys at bay. It was one bad inning.”

The southpaw cruised through his last three innings with five strikeouts and three groundouts on only 44 pitches, as well as retiring the last six batters he faced. The five-run third was the only blemish in Kershaw’s final line as he struck out nine in six innings and issued one walk. This marked the first game in five starts that Kershaw did not allow a home run.

Kershaw has had prior success against the Braves throughout his storied career that included five wins in his first 11 regular-season starts against them with a 1.78 ERA.

Los Angeles worked its way back into the game following Atlanta’s five-spot with three runs in the fourth, courtesy of Matt Beaty, Zach McKinstry and Austin Barnes. That provided Kershaw the fuel he needed to settle in against the Braves, since that type of run support has usually resulted in a win for Kershaw. He is 126-3 in his career when the offense gives him four or more runs of support, with two of those three losses occurring this season.

"You just try and grind as best you can at that point,” Kershaw said. “Our team, right after that inning, scored three to make it 5-4. Great job by our team battling back right there, kind of felt like you're in it still at that point.”