Most major league pitchers would be thrilled with having a 5-2 record and 2.53 ERA two months into the season. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is not most major league pitchers, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Instead, the Dallas, TX native and future first-ballot Hall of Famer was visibly annoyed after his second loss of the season on Friday, this one to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park – a game in which he allowed four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and five walks in his 4.2 innings pitched.

“You just can’t walk five guys, it’s just unacceptable. It’s not a good recipe to win games. I’ll just try not to do that next time,” Kershaw told reporters after his team’s 5-2 loss to the NL West second-place Padres.

Unfortunately, and uncharacteristically, in addition to those “unacceptable” five walks, the hard-throwing left-hander also gave up two home runs, both to Padres All-Star Silver Slugging right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. – the first a solo shot in the bottom of the third and the second a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to make it a then 3-1 game.

“I just think tonight, I thought early on he was really sharp,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kershaw postgame. “I thought the fastball was good, I thought the slider good, everything played, and you know, he made two mistakes, location pitches to Tatis, that he took advantage of.

“I think the thing that was most uncharacteristic is the walks. You know, he doesn’t walk guys, and tonight I think he walked five, and almost had a chance to get out of that fifth inning,” Roberts added.

On the (sort of) good side of the coin, although the Dodgers managed only four hits off of Padres ace and five-time All-Star right-hander Yu Darvish, one was a one out triple by 23-year-old Dodgers second baseman Miguel Vargas. Unfortunately, Vargas was doubled up at third base on a scorching line drive off the bat of Dodgers designated hitter David Peralta to Padres second baseman Ha-Seong Kim, who fired across the diamond to nail Vargas by twenty feet to end the scoreless top of the second inning.

On the (sort of) injury front, hot-hitting Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy had to come out of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning for what was being called “flu-like symptoms.” Roberts later told reporters that MLB’s current home run leader (12) could possibly be his designated hitter on Saturday evening, although this seems unlikely and could be little more than the gamesmanship that Roberts is famous for.

Play Ball!

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