ANGELES, CA Their three-time Cy Young Award winner was unable to escape the Arizona Diamondbacks first inning. Currently, in an attempt to return to the N.L. Division Series, the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers will rely on a 24-year-old rookie.

Dodgers’ star On Sunday, Clayton Kershaw tested the limits of his 35-year-old physique in shallow left field. Though teammates were batting practice nearby, he seemed to be alone with his thoughts as he hopped, stretched, and jogged.

The brightest night of Kershaw’s 16-year career stood in sharp contrast to the sunlight that covered the verdant field.

In an 11-2 defeat on Saturday night in Game 1, he was pulled after 35 pitches after being hit for six runs and recording just one out.

Kershaw remarked, “It’s really just embarrassing.”

Now that the best-of-five series is headed to a Game 4, which manager Dave Roberts reiterated Kershaw will start on Thursday in Phoenix, all he and the Dodgers can do is look forward.

Roberts declared, “I think that’s the only option, and it’s the best option.”

The teams’ regular postseason schedule was broken on Sunday, since they were off.

According to Roberts, “I think the off-day might kind of hopefully cool those bats down on the other side.”

In today’s Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles will start right-hander Bobby Miller against Arizona’s 17-game winner Zac Gallen.

Roberts described Miller as “a killer out there who always feels he’s the best option with the baseball.”

During the regular season, Miller went 11-4 with a 3.76 ERA, 119 strikeouts, and two victories versus the D-backs.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman declared, “He’s ready.” “We feel pretty good about him, just from his first start of the year to where he is now, with his mound poise, command of the baseball, and attacking hitters.”

During the regular season, All-Star pitcher Gallen went 17-9 with a 3.47 ERA but lost twice to the Dodgers.

He predicted, “They’re going to come out firing.” “However, I don’t believe there is any pressure. We are not expected here. You see us play our best baseball when we’re playing kind of easy, carefree, and I think that’s just the mentality I’ll have out there.”

Following their N.L. Wild Card Series whitewash of Milwaukee in two games, the 84-win D-backs took an aggressive approach to Kershaw from the first pitch.

Torey Lovullo, manager of the D-backs, said, “This team has a chip on its shoulder.” “Perhaps people are realizing that it’s not acceptable to just walk all over us.”

Kershaw would be playing on his least amount of rest since the beginning of the season if the Dodgers advance to a Game 4. Since returning from the injured list on August 10, he has carefully controlled his workload, never going more than 5 1/3 innings in an outing.

Kershaw maintained that the shoulder ailment that placed him on the injured list for six weeks earlier in the season had nothing to do with his outburst. He has kept quiet about the injury’s specifics, as have the Dodgers.

“If you look at the data, everything was genuinely a little better than it had been. Thus, nothing about the arm is mentioned in the recovery or in-game material, according to Roberts. “It has nothing to do with the shoulder injury at all,”

Kershaw’s ERA at the end of Game 1 was, get this: 162.00.

“What I do know is for us to accomplish what we want to this year, we’re going to need Clayton Kershaw to start baseball games,” Roberts said. “And I’m completely confident that he can accomplish that and will be fine,”