Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw will get a second opinion on his laboring right hip Tuesday after learning that surgery would sideline the young ace until mid-May of 2013. Per the Los Angeles Times:

Kershaw's decision on whether to have an operation will be made after [he] receives a second opinion from Dr. Bryan Kelly on Tuesday in New York.

Kershaw (12-9, 2.70) was unable to make his last scheduled start on Sunday and is feared to have a torn labrum in his right hip. (Coincidentally, a labrum tear is the same injury that fellow Dodger Jerry Hairston Jr. underwent season-ending surgery for last week.) The 2011 Cy Young winner's injury comes at the worst possible time for the Dodgers, who are just a game back of the Cardinals for the second wild card, but are now without three starting pitchers: Kershaw, Chad Billingsley and Ted Lilly.

The 24-year-old Kershaw, who has been LA's Opening Day starter the last two seasons, is under contract for $11 million next season and will not become a free agent until after 2014.