The upcoming month was already going to be tough for the Dodgers.
A rainy Friday night in Queens made it that much tougher.
In the fourth game of a 29-game stretch against playoff-contending teams, the Dodgers beat the New York Mets in a marathon contest at Citi Field, overcoming a three-run ninth-inning blown save from closer Tanner Scott by prevailing 7-5 in the 13th inning.
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But their already shorthanded pitching staff endured more unexpected obstacles in the process. A one-hour, 38-minute rain delay in the top of the third limited starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw to just two innings. A seemingly never-ending game forced their overworked bullpen to combine for 11 more innings in which every reliever was used except one.
“Obviously, it’s not the way we envisioned it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But found a way to persevere.”
“The Mets had to do the same thing and they lost,” Kershaw added. “That doesn’t feel near as good.”
Navigating this difficult portion of the schedule — which began in earnest with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks this week — was already posing a test for a Dodgers pitching staff missing three of its five opening-day rotation members and many other important arms in the bullpen.
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Because of that, Roberts has emphasized in recent days the need to push his starters to take down as many innings as possible.
On Friday, however, the weather didn’t cooperate.
In his second start after offseason toe and knee surgeries, Kershaw seemed to be on his way to a decent start. Over two scoreless innings, he yielded only a lone walk that was quickly erased by a double play. Just 26 pitches in, he felt like he “could find some consistency, some repetition” in his delivery.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the second inning Friday against the Mets. (Pamela Smith / Associated Press)
“More reps the better for me right now,” he said. “Just trying to get back into it.”
Instead, with the Dodgers mounting a rally in the top of the third, the New York skies opened up for a late May downpour. For the next 98 minutes, fans scattered for shelter and watched the Knicks’ playoff game on the stadium scoreboard. Back in the visiting clubhouse, Roberts watched the clock tick and tick and tick, eventually to the point where keeping Kershaw in was no longer a viable option.
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“I tried to stay as loose as I could, but it just kept going longer,” Kershaw said. “In…