SAN FRANCISCO >> It happened again.

Clayton Kershaw took the mound at Oracle Park on Thursday afternoon and began warming up for the fifth inning before suddenly stopping in obvious discomfort. After trying to throw one more pitch, Kershaw looked to the dugout and left the field before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and trainer Thomas Albert could even reach the pitcher’s mound.

As he walked to the dugout, cameras caught Kershaw appearing to say to Albert, “It’s my back.”

Of course it is.

Since first missing time with a herniated disc in 2016, Kershaw has lived with chronic back pain and the constant specter of injury. He has gone to the injured list multiple times in the six years since with iterations of the back issue. Most recently, the 34-year-old Kershaw spent a month on the IL earlier this season with sacroiliac joint inflammation in his lower back.