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By Jon Weisman
Clayton Kershaw was clocked above the left jaw in the third inning today by a broken-bat single from Oakland’s Andy Parrino. Kershaw dropped to the ground for 40 seconds, later gesturing inside his mouth as he was examined by Stan Conte, but stayed in the game — no doubt wanting to make sure he got his work in.
Kershaw allowed a line-drive out and then an RBI bloop single to the next two batters, then retired the final seven hitters he faced to complete a five-inning, 68-pitch outing. Then, he went down to the bullpen to throw a few more pitches before calling it a day.
The Dodger ace also singled to left field in his first at-bat of Cactus League play this year. And earlier in the game, he gave us Classic Clayton.
https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/579030520287244288/photo/1
Kershaw's curveball could get more dates in high school than I did. I don't mean Kershaw – I literally mean that curveball.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) March 20, 2015
Update: Kershaw chipped a tooth …
“It felt like getting hit by a pitch,” Kershaw said, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. “Nothing serious. I don’t think I panicked too much. It was sore. I think I lost some tooth. I spit it out, and we got it. I assume tomorrow, I’ll be sore. I feel fine now. … If it was serious, I wouldn’t have stayed in. Not worth it in Spring Training. At the same time, there’s only a couple more (games) left, and I need to build up pitch count. That’s kind of an important thing, to stay out there.”
Kershaw on protective caps: "You look like Mario from Nintendo. Not a huge appearance guy but I don't know if I could take myself seriously"
— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) March 20, 2015
#Dodgers C AJ Ellis joked that his first reax when Kershaw got hit was "That Gold Glove was a sham. He should have had it, started DP"
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) March 20, 2015
oldbrooklynfan
Otherwise, it was a typical Kershaw outing.