Dave Roberts Not Concerned About Clayton Kershaw Injury Scare, Dodgers Pitcher Isn't as Confident

We have differing takes on Clayton Kershaw's injury scare.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw left Tuesday's win over the Colorado Rockies after throwing just 79 pitches. Yes, he had completed six innings, but it did feel a little soon for Kershaw to exit, especially considering he was through six shutout innings and had allowed just one hit and one walk.

To make matters worse, as Kershaw walked off the mound after the sixth inning, he made a motion to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts saying he was done for the night. Kershaw, of all people, took himself out.

Clayton Kershaw entered this start with a 4.82 ERA in 155 career innings at Coors Field. His final line today:

6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

He told Dave Roberts he was done as he came off the field after the sixth inning. What a great performance in a tough ballpark to pitch at.

— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) June 28, 2023

After the game, Kershaw's decision to exit was obviously the first thing on everyone's on mind. Both Roberts and Kershaw were asked about it, and they gave pretty different responses.

Let's start with Doc:

"Right now, I'm not concerned," Roberts said. "For me, we've been riding him a lot. You look at his last few starts, I think we pushed him a lot. Tonight, whatever it was, I think there was some fatigue."

Conversely, Kershaw sounded a bit more concerned — or at the very least, unsure.

"Just needed to come out right there," Kershaw said. "I think I'm alright. I think I'll be good for the next start. It was just something that, I was trying to do the right thing and I think I did."

Clayton Kershaw on leaving the Dodgers game after six innings today.

"Just needed to come out right there. I think I'm alright. I think I'll be good for the next start. It was just something that, I was trying to do the right thing and I think I did."

— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) June 28, 2023

This is not the most reassuring answer from Kershaw, who's 35 years old and hasn't made 30 starts in a season since 2015.

At this point in the year, Kershaw is the only Dodgers starter to have made all their scheduled starts this season. Additionally, he's the only member of the Dodgers' Opening Day rotation currently healthy.

After throwing 126.1 innings all of last year, Kershaw is already at 95.1 innings this year — and we're just finishing up June.

Safe to say, Kershaw has taken on a much larger workload in the first half of this season than he has in a while, and we have to hope that it's not finally catching up to him.

Ideally, Kershaw was just being extra cautious, and wakes up feeling much better on Wednesday and ready to get back into his routine before making his next scheduled start. However, he told reporters that he wanted to wait a day before providing any more information, and will provide an update on Wednesday.

We'll be anxiously awaiting Kershaw's report.