Every time Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw takes the mound, it is both noteworthy and newsworthy. Not only is there a remarkably good chance that the game will end in a win for the current National League West first-place Dodgers, but there is always an exceptionally good chance that Dodgers (and baseball) fans will witness something historic; say, like, maybe (another) no-hitter, or what should be the Dallas, TX natives second perfect game (Damn you, Hanley!).

But when Kershaw takes the mound on Wednesday morning for the Dodgers’ game-three series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field, it will be both noteworthy and newsworthy for an entirely different and enormously important reason – one the likes rarely (if ever) seen before by Dodgers (and baseball) fans. He will be asked … required to go deep into the game.

The reason, of course, is because his – and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts‘ – team had to use the entire Dodgers bullpen in Tuesday’s exciting 6-2 Dodgers win over the Brewers because of a unique injury to the right index finger of Dodgers starter Noah Syndergaard‘s pitching hand. That injury, which is being called a blister, tore open and bled significantly with every one of the 20 total pitches that the 30-year-old Mansfield, TX native and first-round draft pick in 2010 by the Toronto Blue Jays made, forcing him to be removed from the game after pitching only the bottom of the first inning.

“Right now, the padding of his index finger just kind of came… started bleeding, scabbing, it was pretty much raw as I looked at it,” Roberts said postgame. “So we tried to kind of mend it, didn’t take, so he couldn’t obviously go any further.”

Instead, Roberts was forced to use his pitching staff as follows:

Amazingly (although not surprisingly), Roberts’ bullpen limited the Brewers to only two runs, both on solo home runs given up by Dodgers right-hander Shelby Miller in the bottom of the seventh.

“The bullpen was fantastic,” Roberts said proudly. “It’s a tough spot going into tomorrow, but what they gave us (on Tuesday) was huge.”

A tough spot indeed … but it IS Clayton Kershaw who we are talking about here.

Play Ball!

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