LOS ANGELES– The Pirates didn’t face Clayton Kershaw, but they sure did their best to make the Dodgers’ Monday night starter resemble him.
Kershaw was nowhere to be found on the bump at Dodger Stadium: he was moved to the 15-day injured list with left shoulder soreness prior to the opening contest of the four-game set. Instead, Kershaw could be found throwing in the outfield pregame, forcing right-hander Michael Grove, owner of a 7.54 ERA this season entering the evening, to make his 14th career MLB start.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said the team had a general idea of who the Dodgers’ starter was going to be in the morning and leaned on prior experience, having faced Grove last season. A little over a year ago, the Pirates touched up Grove, a Wheeling, W.v.. native, for three runs in an inning during the impressive three-game sweep of the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
