SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants don’t get to host many day-night doubleheaders at AT&T Park, but that’s not why this weekend’s series with the Dodgers will be so unique. Los Angeles is listing Hyun-jin Ryu, Alex Wood and Kenta Maeda as starters, and top prospect Walker Buehler will be called back up to pitch the first game on Saturday.
Which means the Dodgers will do the seemingly impossible. They will play a four-game series with the Giants without sending Clayton Kershaw to the mound.
“That is strange, isn’t it?” Bruce Bochy said Wednesday. “I know they’ve always even moved the rotation to make sure we do get him.”
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The Dodgers have on several occasions shifted their starters around so Kershaw would face the Giants, particularly late in the season. When they came here earlier this month, they took advantage of an off day to slide Kershaw into the finale. The rivals play six times a year, and just once since 2010 has Kershaw failed to face the Giants at least five times. His first Cy Young Award, in 2011, was won during those matchups. That’s the only year Kershaw faced the Giants six times, and he went 5-0 while allowing just five earned runs in 42 innings.
The Giants saw Kershaw five times in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 and four times in 2014. Even the injuries that Kershaw has suffered the past few years have not limited his ability to swing the National League West standings. When healthy, Kershaw has missed the Giants just once over the last 13 series in San Francisco or Los Angeles.
Kershaw’s first look at the Giants was actually a one-inning relief appearance on Sept. 28, 2009, and the next season he struck out 13 over seven innings in his first start against them. That was a sign of things to come. In 11 big league seasons, he has taken the mound against the Giants a whopping 43 times, five more than the next closest foe (the Rockies). He has faced the Padres 32 times and the Diamondbacks just 28.
The numbers are overwhelming, both in total and when you dig into individual matchups. In those 43 appearances, Kershaw has a 1.60 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 6.96 strikeout-to-walk ratio and five shutouts. He is even better at AT&T Park, with a 13-4 record and 1.30 ERA in 22 appearances here.
San Francisco Giants
His absence will mean a slightly more enjoyable weekend for several players. Brandon Belt is 4 for 54 against Kershaw and Brandon Crawford is 5 for 38. Kelby Tomlinson has been part of some of Bochy’s “bomb squads” but he has just three hits in 22 chances against Kershaw. Buster Posey has faced him 105 times and has a .638 OPS.