Kershaw bested by Sox, Crochet in first regular-season start at Fenway

BOSTON -- Prior to Saturday night, the only other time that 18-year-veteran Clayton Kershaw pitched at historic Fenway Park was in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series, an 8-4 loss.

His second trip to Boston’s 113-year-old shrine to baseball, and possibly his last, ended in the same fashion, as the Dodgers fell, 4-2.

As has been the case a lot this season, Kershaw struggled to put batters away, including the first three of the second inning, each of whom had two-strike counts before reaching base, culminating in Jarren Duran’s two-run triple to tie the game.

“The strikeouts where normally he’s getting those, when he gets two strikes and good counts, it’s been tough to come by this year,” said manager Dave Roberts.

In the fifth inning, a 10-pitch at-bat against Alex Bregman led to a single before Roman Anthony doubled him home to put the hosts up 4-2 and send Kershaw to the showers.

When the dust settled, the Los Angeles starter had logged only 4 2/3 innings, his second straight start of fewer than five frames, and he allowed six hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out two.

“The second inning was generally not what I needed it to be,” said Kershaw. “Kind of a tough time with a lot of different things. Honestly, after that, the third, fourth, even the fifth, even though I gave up that run, I felt pretty solid with everything.

“We’ll look at it tomorrow and try and figure out what was going on there in the second. It could have been a super frustrating day. Now, it’s only mildly frustrating.”

“He was having some problems with the mound on his land leg, and he was slipping,” said Roberts. “In the second inning you could see the stuff wasn’t there. The command wasn’t there, and then he worked something out in that third and fourth inning.”

Though the 37-year-old has not announced his retirement, it will be two seasons before Los Angeles returns to Boston, leaving a return appearance for the left-hander in serious doubt.

Asked if his approach was any different because of that, the veteran replied, “It’s obviously a cool ballpark, fun to come to Fenway. The crowds have been awesome. Dodgers fans traveled really well here, so it’s been fun to be here, but I’m good to leave, too.”

The Dodgers were swinging heavy lumber early, demolishing Garrett Crochet offerings all over the ballpark as they staked their starter a quick lead.

Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a 414-foot home run to dead-center, his 10th leadoff shot of the season and the 22nd of his career. Two batters later, Teoscar Hernández blistered a ball over everything in left field, 387 feet for a solo shot that put the Dodgers up 2-0.

“Our guys did a good job getting the lead early,” added Kershaw. “It’s just frustrating not being able to hold the lead.”

Then the lights dimmed quickly from the bats as Crochet locked in and struck out 10 batters over six innings, allowing just one Dodger past second base after the first.

“The last few innings, I felt good with everything, I just couldn’t make the adjustment in the second inning, and that’s what cost us,” said Kershaw. “Obviously, when you’re facing a guy like Crochet, there’s not going to be a lot of runs.”

With the loss, Kershaw fell to 4-2 on the season, and over four starts in July, he has gone 0-2 with a 4.71 ERA and only 10 strikeouts over 21 innings.

“Typically, I’ve been pretty solid at making adjustments pitch-to-pitch,” Kershaw explained. “Some starts are better than others. This start took an inning too long.”