Kershaw soaks in curtain call in possible L.A. finale

LOS ANGELES -- It ended with a fastball, dotted on the lower edge of the zone to strike out Rafael Devers looking. It was the first out of Friday's fifth inning and perhaps the final pitch Clayton Kershaw will ever throw at Dodger Stadium.

Kershaw, who announced his retirement at season's end, dispersed hugs with the infielders upon seeing Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts emerge from the dugout to remove him from his final regular-season home start. Roberts, his manager the past 10 years, shook Kershaw's hand, wrapped him in a hug, shared some words, then watched as the eventual Hall of Fame left-hander soaked in a raucous standing ovation from a sold-out crowd.

Kershaw lifted his hat to the fans, hugged his teammates in the dugout, then came out once more for a curtain call.

Kershaw, 37, wasn't at his best in this matchup against the San Francisco Giants. He walked four, navigated several prolonged at-bats and allowed a couple of runs. But, as he has so often these last few years, he found a way to navigate a game and left his team with a chance to win.

The night began with Kershaw alone on the mound. His teammates stayed back in the dugout briefly, wanting to give Kershaw and Dodger fans a moment to themselves. Kershaw urged them back onto the field and allowed a leadoff home run to Heliot Ramos on his third pitch of the game. He wound up throwing 23 pitches in the first inning, later working around a walk and an error.

He did something similar in the second, issuing a couple of one-out walks before inducing a couple of infield pop-ups. And in the third, which featured a double by Matt Chapman and a run-scoring single by Wilmer Flores. And the fourth, when he worked around a leadoff hit. But he limited damage.

Kershaw finished the top of the fourth by striking out Willy Adames, ending a nine-pitch at-bat and putting his pitch count at 86. Roberts did not even look at him as he approached the bench, wanting to give Kershaw one last hitter so he could remove him mid-inning. It came in the form of Devers, one of the sport's most dangerous sluggers. Kershaw retired him on his 91st pitch, a fitting end to what could be the end of his Dodger Stadium career.

Soon after, Kershaw cheered while Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts delivered back-to-back home runs to give the Dodgers' a three-run lead with a four-run bottom of the fifth.

Kershaw is scheduled to make one more regular-season start next week. But given the depth and talent in the Dodgers' rotation, his role on the team's postseason roster is very much uncertain.

In an 18-year career spent entirely in L.A., Kershaw won three Cy Young Awards and an MVP, has accumulated 222 regular-season victories -- 11 shy of Don Sutton for the franchise record -- and holds a 2.54 career ERA that stands as the second-lowest among those who have thrown at least 1,500 innings in the live-ball era. His Friday start was attended by Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, his childhood friend, and several former teammates, including Austin Barnes, Russell Martin, Jimmy Rollins, Trayce Thompson, A.J. Pollock and Andre Ethier.

Ethier was in the starting lineup when Kershaw made his major league debut at Dodger Stadium on May 25, 2008, and wound up with the walk-off hit.

Seventeen years later, he watched what might have been his final Dodger Stadium appearance.