Clayton Kershaw meltdown was ‘hard to watch’ as Phillies grab NLDS Game 3

Clayton Kershaw bent over and placed his hands on his knees, the frustration of a disaster relief appearance engulfing the future Hall of Famer.

Kyle Schwarber’s two-run homer had just turned Wednesday’s NLDS Game 3 into a laugher for the Phillies, with Kershaw letting a two-run deficit suddenly become a five-run edge in one of the roughest outings of the southpaw’s legendary career — in what could be the final time he ever takes the mound at Dodger Stadium.

He surrendered five runs (four earned) in two innings, while yielding six hits and walking three batters in the 8-2 loss.

“It was hard to watch,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said after Philadelphia cut Los Angeles’ series lead to 2-1.

“But we can’t use two innings to — he’s going to have a statue in front of Dodger Stadium. We have to kind of keep that in mind and understand that, in the grand scheme of things, Kershaw is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best to ever do it. So if you let two innings kind of ruin that, you don’t know baseball.”

Kershaw announced in September this will be his final season in the majors, adding significance to each time he picks up the ball.

There’s always the chance this could be the last time fans see him pitch — especially in the postseason.

Kershaw is not in the Dodgers’ rotation for the playoffs and is instead being used in relief, which is why he entered Wednesday’s game in the seventh inning with the Dodgers trailing, 3-1.

It marked his first postseason relief appearance since the 2019 NLDS.

The 37-year-old escaped trouble in the seventh inning after putting the first two men on but had no such luck in the fateful eighth inning.

J.T. Realmuto opened the frame with a homer before a walk and Max Muncy error put two men on.

Those two eventually scored on Trea Turner’s two-run single, and Schwarber followed with his second homer to give the Phillies the 8-1 advantage.

Kershaw yielded another double and single, with the Dodgers throwing out a runner at the plate to prevent a sixth run from being added to his ledger.

“Tough couple innings there,” Kershaw said after throwing 48 pitches.

“Just didn’t make enough good pitches. I was battling command. It’s hard when you’re trying to throw strikes as opposed to get people out. Just wasn’t a fun inning.”

The Dodgers still are in a good spot in this series, and should they advance they will meet the winners of the Cubs-Brewers series. Milwaukee has a 2-1 series edge entering Thursday’s Game 4.

“He just didn’t have a great slider tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kershaw. “I think Clayton pitches off his slider. When the slider’s not there, depthy, teethy. And then the fastball command, he was working behind, too. Just the command wasn’t there tonight.”