Without pitching, Clayton Kershaw still a factor in Dodgers’ victory

12:52 AM ET

ATLANTA — Clayton Kershaw’s value is unmatched, as his current $215 million contract would attest, and it is on days like Thursday when his calming presence will be felt.

Kershaw will start in the series finale at Atlanta, on getaway day. Nothing like having a quality pitcher available to possibly work through an opponent with efficiency, the added bonus being that the team is on the plane and off to the next town at a decent hour.

Yet Kershaw’s presence in Thursday’s game is of even greater importance. With Dodgers starting pitchers combining for just 7 2/3 innings in the first two games of the series against the Braves, the bullpen has been taxed. Rookie Ross Stripling lasted just 3 2/3 innings Wednesday.

It’s a situation that is especially troubling since after Thursday’s game, the Dodgers are headed to Colorado, where bullpens tend to get chewed up and spit out in the light air at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

Kershaw’s task is two-fold Thursday: Dispatch the Braves with efficiency and take the ball into the late innings.

“I think that it is nice knowing you have your ace going the next day,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It was sort of all hands on deck (Wednesday). It was a little bit of a grind. Those guys were putting at-bats on Ross, so at that point in the fourth inning we needed to go to the pen.”

Dave Roberts made a lot of trips to the mound Wednesday, figuring he won’t have to Thursday with Clayton Kershaw on the mound. AP Photo/David Goldman

Surprisingly, Thursday will be just the second start for Kershaw at Turner Field, but he fared well in that 2011 outing, going seven innings while giving up two earned runs, leaving with a no-decision. In his career against the Braves, Kershaw is 2-0 …

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