LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw pitched the final regular-season home game of his 18-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, with the 37-year-old left-hander getting both welcomed and sent off with standing ovations a day after announcing his decision to retire at season’s end.
Kershaw’s longtime warmup song, “We Are Young” by Fun, blared as fans held up camera phones to capture the moment as the game began and he took the field by himself at first. The cheers quickly turned to boos when San Francisco Giants leadoff hitter Heliot Ramos turned on an 86 mph slider for a 431-foot home run.
“I was grinding out there, working way too hard to get people out,” Kershaw said.
The cheers returned after Rafael Devers took a called third strike leading off the fifth. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came to the mound and hugged Kershaw as his teammates on the field, in the dugout and in the bullpen joined the sellout crowd of 53,037 in applauding the starter as he departed.
Kershaw kept the ball and got no argument from Roberts: “I said, ‘You can do whatever you want, it’s your night.'”