Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) on the mound before throwing a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Dodger Stadium on June 3, 2025. Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw Gets Honest About Early Season Struggles

Originally posted on Los Angeles Dodgers on SI
By J.P. Hoornstra | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 8:09 PM ET

Clayton Kershaw is frustrated with his first four starts of the season.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner has an uncharacteristic 5.17 ERA after allowing five runs (three earned) in Tuesday's start against the New York Mets.

The Dodgers came back to win, 6-5 in 10 innings, after Kershaw bequeathed a 5-4 deficit to the bullpen in the fifth inning.

Max Muncy's error on a potential double-play groundout didn't help his cause, but Kershaw acknowledged he could be better.

"Just didn’t make enough good pitches,” Kershaw said, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group. “I got ahead of some guys, gave up two-strike hits, walked guys, gave up some hard-hit balls. Overall, not a great day."

Kershaw missed the first 45 games of the regular season while recovering from multiple offseason surgeries. When he was activated from the injured list, he joined a Dodgers rotation that was reeling from the recent loss of Roki Sasaki to a shoulder injury, in addition to Opening Day rotation anchors Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.

Kershaw: "I just need to put it together for a whole game, figure out how to do that, which I think I can do and will do. It just better be soon." pic.twitter.com/dJiCixrs9m
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) June 4, 2025

More than a farewell tour, Kershaw's return to the Dodgers rotation was a necessary addition for a team that needed innings. Kershaw has only completed five innings in one of his first four starts.

"It’s kind of in and out for me," Kershaw told reporters, including Plunkett. "I think I’ll go on a stretch of making, like, 10 or 11 good pitches in a row and then just make enough bad ones to get some damage done against me. I just need to put it together for a whole game, figure out how to do that, which I think I can do and will do. Just better be soon.”

Kershaw's slider has historically been his best pitching, yielding a 36.2 percent whiff rate and .167 opponents' batting average as recently as 2023. This season, his slider has lost a tick on the radar gun, down to 85.7 mph. Batters are hitting .304 against the pitch and missing on 25.9 percent of their swings.

Meanwhile, his curveball is yielding a .300 batting average and only three strikeouts.

“You just don’t see the misses with the curveball (location) like you saw tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “I think there was one good one to a left-handed hitter in the middle of a count. But outside of that there’s a lot of non-competitive curveballs, which is very uncharacteristic of Clayton. … The teethiness of the slider, just isn’t there right now. It’s still been three-plus starts. So to get the feel of it, it’s gonna come."

This article first appeared on Los Angeles Dodgers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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