The Los Angeles Dodgers were defeated 5-2 in their series opener on the road versus the San Diego Padres. Clayton Kershaw drew the start for LA and labored mightily. He was able to limit San Diego to four earned runs despite walking five hitters over 4.2 innings pitched. Nevertheless, it was a very uncharacteristic outing for Kershaw, which even led to the Padres mocking him after the game. Kershaw addressed his tough outing following the Dodgers' loss on Friday night, per MLB.com's Juan Toribio.

“You just can’t walk five guys. That’s just unacceptable,” Kershaw said. “When you don’t have great command, it makes it challenging no matter what. Usually, that’s not something I have a lot of issues with. But tonight, I didn’t have a great feel. They do a good job. They don’t leave the strike zone. So you have to give them credit, too.”

Clayton Kershaw typically doesn't lose the strike zone as he mentioned. When he struggles in his outings, it's typically because he leaves too many pitches over the middle of the plate. Walks don't tend to plague him on a consistent basis. Sometimes, however, pitchers simply don't have their usual feel.

Kershaw has led the league in WHIP on four separate occasions and owns a career 1.001 WHIP. He's also struck out 2,885 hitters compared to only 639 career walks. In other words, Clayton Kershaw is going to bounce back from this outing. His track record is far too impressive to suggest otherwise.

Regardless, it was a frustrating start for Kershaw on Friday. The Dodgers will hand the ball over to Dustin May for Saturday's game against the Padres.