Since his return from a shoulder injury on August 10, Clayton Kershaw has made seven starts for the Dodgers. However, due to his reduced fastball, he has only managed to induce four swinging strikes out of the 169 four-seamers he has thrown in those contests.

But Kershaw makes up for his lack of substance with courage and cunning.

For his 210th career victory, Kershaw blanked the San Francisco Giants on two hits over five innings of Saturday night’s 7-0 victory in Chavez Ravine in front of a sold-out crowd of 52,704 people, moving him ahead of Don Drysdale and into second place behind Don Sutton (233).

After recording his 200th hit, Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers salutes the crowd.DODGERS

On September 22, 2023, Freddie Freeman hits 200 hits in the Dodgers’ loss to the Giants.

With two on and no outs in the fifth inning of what might be his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium, Kershaw got out of the jam by striking out Tyler Fitzgerald with an 86 mph slider and getting Patrick Bailey to ground out to third.

The next batter was Austin Slater, who hit a sinking line drive to left field, but David Peralta made a nice diving catch to end the inning, protect a 3-0 lead, and keep Kershaw on track for a victory. With the victory, Kershaw, a three-time National League Cy Young Award winner, improved to 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA in his last seven starts, while the Dodgers improved to 6-1.

In reference to his capacity to make up for his velocity fall, Kershaw remarked, “It’s adapt or die — you have to.” “At the end of the day, all that matters is that you throw pitches, regardless of your velocity or the direction of the ball. That’s all there is to it.

Although being at your best is ideal, being able to place pitches where you want and execute your off-speed pitches can ultimately help you out.

J.D. Martinez, the designated hitter, contributed significantly to the offense with his 31st solo home run to center field in the second inning and a two-out, two-run double to right field in the third. He is at bat.365 (19 for 52) in 14 September games, with six home runs, two doubles, and 20 RBIs.

With his major league-leading 57th double in the fifth inning, Freddie Freeman scored a run. He now needs three more in the last eight games to record the first 60-double season since World War II. After Freeman’s knock, Max Muncy added an RBI single to center for a 5-0 advantage.

Mookie Betts led 7-0 after drawing a walk in the third and fifth innings, scoring on a double in the seventh, and a two-run double to left-center in the eighth. The most runs ever scored in a season by a leadoff batter in a major league is 105, according to Betts.

“There have been a lot of excellent leadoff hitters, so it’s fairly amazing for him to be number one. How he wouldn’t be at the top of the [most valuable player] discussion is beyond me when you consider his defense and what he does [in right field and at second base].

Due to shoulder discomfort, Kershaw missed six weeks from late June to early August. When he returned, his fastball had lost some of its zip, averaging 88.2 mph on September 5 against Miami and 88.7 mph on September 16 against Seattle.

Early in September, the Dodgers left Kershaw off of the rotation and gave him six days off before his start on Saturday night. Again, he threw a fastball that averaged 88.7 mph, but he mixed it with an 85 mph slider and a looping, 72 mph curveball to prevent the Giants from scoring.

Kershaw jokingly said, “Yeah, I’m on the college schedule; I’m the Saturday starter.” “Everything we do around here has a purpose. When you can, obtain as much extra rest as you need to be healthy for the playoffs and other events. Although it’s a different schedule, it makes sense for where I am right now. I’m using it to my advantage.

Roberts marveled at Kershaw’s ability to pitch so effectively with diminished stuff before the game, saying, “It’s remarkable, it really is.” Saturday night’s start, in which Kershaw struck out five, walked two and threw 46 of his 76 pitches for strikes, only reinforced that assessment.

“He had really good command from the outset, and he and Austin [Barnes, Dodgers catcher] worked really well together,” Roberts said. “I thought the sequencing was great. He used all quadrants, used his curveball, the slider was good, there were some changeups in there.

“He just kept those guys off balance all night and was really efficient. I couldn’t have asked for anything more from Clayton, and to see him get through that fifth inning with a little bit of stress was good to see as well.”

Kershaw, who improved to 13-4 with a 2.42 ERA this season and 26-15 with a 1.99 ERA in 58 career games against the Giants, said he feels like he is “trending in the right direction” since that Miami start.

But he winced a bit when asked if he felt “proud” of what he’s doing now as opposed to when he was in peak form from 2008-2016, when his fastball averaged 93-94 mph and he was one of the most dominant pitchers in the game.

“I don’t know if ‘proud’ is the right word,” Kershaw said. “I’d much rather just be good the whole time … throw as hard as I possibly could … and be able to pitch the way I used to. It’s no fun to have to figure stuff out.”

FILE – Manny Mota, left, and Margarita Mota arrive at the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.DODGERS

Kershaw may not overwhelm opposing batters like he did for much of his 16-year career, but Roberts said he is good enough to start one of the team’s first two games in the NL Division Series.

“I think the most important thing is to be good, and I thought tonight he was good,” Roberts said. “Good is relative to how you get there, and I think in his mind, good is being able to bully guys with what he’s always done.

“But I would argue that good is getting major league hitters out. It doesn’t matter how you get there, but I certainly applaud him for going about it in a different way and getting the same result.”

Short hopsOutfielder Jason Heyward is the winner of the Roy Campanella Award, given annually to the player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership of the Hall of Fame catcher and voted upon by uniformed Dodgers personnel. Heyward was presented with the award before Saturday night’s game by Campanella’s daughter, Joni Campanella Roan, and his grandson, Malcolm Campanella.