LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw and Max Muncy are getting back in games this weekend.

Kershaw will make a start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday. It is likely to be a one-game rehab assignment with Kershaw then lined up to rejoin the Dodgers’ starting rotation during their series in San Francisco next weekend.

“Unless I suck,” Kershaw joked.

Muncy, meanwhile, will be joining Triple-A Oklahoma City on his minor-league injury rehabilitation assignment this weekend, though he said it hasn’t been decided yet exactly when he will start playing for OKC.

Kershaw threw approximately 60 pitches in a bullpen session Wednesday, sitting down twice to simulate inning breaks. His rehab start with the Quakes will likely be at least as long.

“My back’s healthy now,” Kershaw said. “I was never worried about my arm. I could throw 100 pitches tomorrow with my arm. I’m not worried about that. It’s just making sure you build up the tolerance with your back. I’m ready for the game on Sunday.”

Kershaw said he is “more concerned with making sure my pitches are where I want them to be to come back.” He has not pitched since throwing seven scoreless innings at Wrigley Field on May 1. Returning from last year’s serious elbow/flexor tendon injury, Kershaw was off to a 4-0 start with a 1.80 ERA in his first five starts.

Muncy, on the other hand, was off to a miserable start and the Dodgers used his elbow injury at the end of last season as a reason to put him on the injured list last weekend. The IL trip gave him a chance to take a mental break from “grinding” away with a .150 batting average.

Muncy didn’t pick up a bat during the Dodgers’ series in Arizona last weekend but has started taking early batting practice this week. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts watched Thursday’s session closely.

“Today was a good day of work,” Roberts said. “Just physically getting reset, it looks really good. So now, let’s put him in some games, get him back to himself. I don’t want to put a timeline on him. We left it open-ended.”

Roberts said Muncy has also been doing some work to regain strength in the elbow. He suffered a dislocation and partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow during the last game of the 2021 regular season.

“The elbow feels good. He’s getting some extension,” Roberts said. “With Max, for me, when I see him being able to hit the ball to right center field in the air, that’s when he’s going well. When he’s hooking balls, hitting balls foul, putting them on the ground to the pull side – not so good. So I think that today was a good sign.”

Roberts said his message to Muncy has been “Let’s take this time and let’s start anew. So when he comes back, I just want him to have the mindset of starting anew and see where that leads.”

PILLAR INJURY

When Kevin Pillar first felt the pain in his left shoulder on a swing during his fifth-inning at-bat Wednesday, he had a flashback to his college days when a dislocated shoulder led to labrum surgery.

He felt it again on a slide at first base and more painfully on a play at third base later in the inning. Pillar came out of the game after that inning and went to have his shoulder examined Thursday morning, expecting to hear words like “subluxation” from the doctor.

Instead, Pillar was told that he had a fracture in his shoulder socket – “the socket part basically broke in half,” Pillar said. The diagnosis was “a shock.”

“It’s definitely a gut punch,” Pillar said. “It was devastating.”

The injury will likely require surgery but Pillar is still weighing his options. The recovery timetable is uncertain but Pillar said he is not going to rule out “a late-season return.”

The injury comes just as Pillar made it back to the major leagues with the Dodgers – the team the Chaminade High and Cal State Dominguez Hills product grew up rooting for in a family of Dodger fans – and in the same game that saw him get his first hit in Dodger blue.

“It’s a bummer,” he said. “It sucks. But I’ve learned to look at everything as part of this baseball journey. … It’s just another chapter in my career. I’m excited to have the surgery and start the road to recovery and see where it takes me.”

The Dodgers placed Pillar on the injured list and recalled Zach McKinstry from Triple-A Thursday. McKinstry was batting .338 with an .887 OPS in 38 games for OKC this season.

PRIDE NIGHT

The Dodgers will hold their ninth annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night Friday.

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According to the team, over 15,000 special-event ticket packages have been sold for the game, the most in the event’s history. All 12 sponsors with outfield signage have also agreed to change the signage to reflect Pride Night themes.

The Dodgers will wear special Pride-themed hats which will also be available for purchase at team stores throughout the stadium.

ALSO

As expected, the Dodgers officially recalled left-hander Caleb Ferguson and optioned right-hander Michael Grove back to Triple-A on Thursday.

UP NEXT

Mets (RHP Chris Bassit, 4-2, 3.66 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP Tyler Anderson, 6-0, 2.90 ERA), Friday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM