Dodgers News: Clayton Kershaw Finally Reveals Injury, Potential Next Steps in Recovery
Everything was going great for Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday night in Denver.
He was dominating the Colorado Rockies and exorcising his Coors Field demons in the process.
Throwing six innings of one-hit ball is more than worthy of that description.
Then came the 7th, and when Kershaw wasn't out there, so began the speculation that the Dodger's ace had fallen victim to what has become a more common refrain with him in recent years: injuries.
Manager Dave Roberts' rather cryptic non-update update didn't exactly quell the concern either.
Fortunately for the team, Dodger fans, and the pitcher, Roberts later said that Kershaw would probably make his next scheduled start, but still wasn't clear with what exactly happened to the future Hall of Famer during his outing in the Mile High City.
Now we have a clearer picture of the situation, as Kershaw addressed that on Thursday, saying his shoulder felt "a little cranky" during Tuesday's game.
Fortunately for Kershaw, he sounds somewhat optimistic that he can make his next start.
"I’ve had some shoulder stuff in the past, like three or four years ago, and usually the shots help pretty good," Kershaw said. "So I’m somewhat optimistic that I should be good. But obviously, with the All-Star break coming up, we have some time to potentially shift things around."
The expectation that Kershaw won't have to miss his next turn in the rotation is welcome news for the Dodgers, who've been working around a spate of injuries and ineffectiveness in the rotation for the last month and a half.
Julio Urias is scheduled to return to a major league mound on Saturday against the woeful Kansas City Royals as he comes back from a hamstring injury, and an outing against one of the worst teams in MLB is about as soft a landing as possible as Urias attempts to find his footing again.
We'll see what happens with Kershaw over the coming days, and while the initial report isn't spotless, it's better than how it could've been especially given the lefty's injury troubles over the last few seasons.
As of now, it looks like he may have avoided a trip to the injured list.