April 13th, 2021 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka As is often the case, during his pregame Zoom media session on Sunday morning, a good many of the questions asked of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts centered around pitching, especially about rehabbing 26-year-old Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin, who is currently on the 10-day injured list for inflammation in his right (throwing) shoulder.
“He’s still a ways away,” Roberts said succinctly.
The Dodgers skipper was also asked if his constant adjusting of his five-man starting rotation will be the new norm, as opposed to the exception.
“There’s going to be pitching gymnastics all year for our club – number one, because we have a lot of talent, number two, we want to make sure we manage the usage,” Roberts explained.
It didn’t take long for those ‘pitching gymnastics’ to came into play when, on Sunday afternoon, Dodgers left-hander and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw bumped right-hander Dustin May so that the 33-year-old three-time Cy Young award winner would pitch on his normal (five days) of rest. As a result, Kershaw matched up against Washington Nationals right-hander and future Hall of Famer (and fellow three-time Cy Young award winner) Max Scherzer, in what was billed as perhaps the greatest pitching duel of the year.
And it was.
Kershaw allowed no runs and five hits with no walks and six strikeouts in his six shutout innings pitched, while Scherzer allowed one run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts in his excellent 6.0 innings of work.
“It was a lot of fun; it was a pitcher’s duel. You could see both those guys competing against the opposing ball club, but against each other,” Roberts said of the epic pitching matchup postgame. “I thought Max threw the baseball really well, gave him a chance to win, [Victor] Robles loses the ball in the sun. Outside of that, we probably wouldn’t have scored against him. And Clayton, six-inning shutout, and so it was sort of what we anticipated.”
(Image courtesy of MLB.com)
Roberts’ pitching gymnastics will come into play again on Tuesday following Monday’s off-day when the Dodgers open a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer will also stay on normal rest, bumping May back yet another day. He will oppose Colorado Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela, with May set to (finally) start on Wednesday against Rockies right-hander Jon Gray.
With the Dodgers having a plethora of capable starting pitchers that will (eventually) include Tony Gonsolin, look for Roberts’ pitching gymnastics to continue throughout the 2021 regular season.
…and hopefully through the 2021 postseason.
Play Ball!
* * * * * *
Posted in 
It was great to see Kershaw pitch another gem and I was also feeling very good about Jansen’s performance.
Awesome article. I just hope Jansen continues this path and it isn’t just going to get him more wriggle room if he is declining
Thanks for dropping in on us, Sumnmer. Don’t be a stranger; you are definitely among friends here.
I, too, am a bit skeptical about Jansen, and even more so with Roberts’ blind faith in him. That said, I do not think Friedman will offer him a contract extension when his current contract is up at the end of this season. His best days are clearly behind him.
…then again, aren’t all of ours?
The gymnastics may include bullpen games with David Price starting followed by Jimmy Nelson and at some point Brusdar Graterol. My guess, Kershaw, Bauer, and Buehler will pitch every fifth day except for a couple of days off during the season.
That’s how I see it as well … at least for now.