Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw making progress, pushing to pitch again soon

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts text messaged Clayton Kershaw on Thursday asking for an update on the left-hander’s rehabilitation from a lower back strain.

Roberts was waiting to hear back when he met with the media before his team faced the Atlanta Braves in a series finale at SunTrust Park. Even so, Roberts reported only progress for Kershaw, who he said was pushing to throw off a mound soon.

“He’s more on the aggressive side, which is no surprise to any of us,” Roberts said. “We’re trying to temper that, a little bit.

“When you hear Clayton wanting to do more, and be more aggressive, that’s a good thing.”

Kershaw injured his back during a game at Dodger Stadium on July 23. The team has not announced a timetable for his return, although the initial prognosis was a four-to-six week absence. An examination of his back showed no damage to the disk he herniated last summer, the team has said.

The Dodgers do not want Kershaw to rush back and risk re-injury, as he did while trying to come back in 2016. Roberts said the team had not set a date for Kershaw to pitch off a mound again. Kershaw started to play catch only five days after the initial injury. He is expected to meet the team on Tuesday in Phoenix.

“I’m sure I’ll know more in the next day or two,” Roberts said. “But the good thing is he feels physically that he can do more.”

Cingrani arrives

After the Dodgers acquired left-handed reliever Tony Cingrani from Cincinnati on Monday, general manager Farhan Zaidi mentioned how Cingrani would benefit from altering his approach. Cingrani had posted a 5.40 earned-run average for the Reds, despite striking out 24.2% of the batters he faced.

In informal conversations before Thursday, when Cingrani was activated, Dodgers officials relayed their hope that Cingrani would use his slider more. He had thrown his fastball 88.4% of the time this season, according to FanGraphs. The slider clocked in at 2.4%.

“I’m very open to most things,” Cingrani said. “I’m not, like, set in my ways by any means. I definitely am hardheaded, but when the point is smart and brought up to you in a convincing way, and you’re like ‘Yep, that works,’ and it sounds right, you can’t disregard that. You’ve got to take it.”

McCarthy slowed

Brandon McCarthy has not pitched for the Dodgers since July 20. On the 10-day disabled list because of blisters on his right hand, McCarthy will try to synchronize the upper and lower halves of his delivery, Roberts said.

McCarthy experienced mechanical glitches during his last four starts and struggled to command his pitches.

“In talking to our medical staff, physically he’s not synced up,” Roberts said. “And he feels that there’s still some things mechanically, and physically, that he needs to work through to give himself the best chance to have success in a major-league game.”

There is no timetable for his return, Roberts said.

Short hops

To make room on the 40-man roster for Cingrani, the Dodgers optioned pitcher Brock Stewart to triple-A Oklahoma City. … Adrian Gonzalez was expected to begin a rehab assignment with Oklahoma City on either Thursday or Friday. … Roberts was not interested in discussing President Donald Trump’s nomination of former Dodgers co-owner Jamie McCourt as the ambassador to France. … Yu Darvish took a flight to New York on Thursday afternoon. He will make his Dodgers debut there on Friday against the Mets.

andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes