 During spring training in a game against the Boston Red Sox, Kershaw gained much attention for throwing a curveball to Sean Casey that started behind Casey but at the end looped into the strike zone and struck him out looking.Kershaw was 0–3 and had a 2.28 ERA with 47 strikeouts through 43 innings pitched in his first stint of the year with the Suns.He was then called up to the majors on May 28, 2008, but optioned back to Jacksonville on July 2.