by Cary Osborne
Wednesday’s game at Dodger Stadium had reached an hour and 32 minutes and was into the sixth inning.
Clayton Kershaw had reached 99 pitches, and there weren’t going to be any more chances for him to reach his 3,000th career strikeout this night.
Some members of the sold-out crowd of 53,536 had stood on their feet 14 times in hopes that the left-handed living legend would record a strikeout.
Fourteen times he had reached a two-strike count and the pesky White Sox helped his cause only twice to that point with strikeouts.
Kershaw had White Sox third baseman Vinny Capra behind 1–2 — the 15th two-strike count of the night. Then he delivered a slider — his 100th pitch of the night — that hugged the edge of the strikezone on the outside corner.
Capra froze.
№22 reached №3,000.
“I made it interesting for sure,” Kershaw said.
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Kershaw, sometimes reluctant to embrace his history, couldn’t escape the adulation that rained down. Make that stormed down.
The Dodger Stadium crowd cheered for six minutes.
Kershaw tipped his cap, put his hand to his heart, blew a kiss to his family in the Loge section and hugged teammates.
“Our fans have been with him since he was 20 years old making his debut,” said manager Dave Roberts. “So they’ve seen the whole evolution. They’ve been with him every step of the way. The buzz tonight felt a little bit like a playoff game. … Our fans are certainly invested in №22 — and rightfully so.”
As a video played on DodgerVision, celebrating one of the greatest pitchers of all time and the 20th member of baseball’s 3,000-strikeout club, fans implored him accept their praise.
Dodger third base coach Dino Ebel, standing near his designated box on the field, grabbed Kershaw’s attention and ordered him back on the field.
The 37-year-old walked up the dugout steps and stood on the field briefly to give a final thank you.
“We’ve been through it. We have,” Kershaw said of his partnership with Dodger fans. “I’ve been through it. A lot of ups and downs here. More downs than I care to admit. But the fans tonight, it really meant a lot. And usually I try not to acknowledge anything before the game because I’m trying to lock it in a little bit. But it was too hard tonight. It was overwhelming to feel that.”
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Kershaw came up to the big leagues as a boy-faced 20-year-old with a mid-90s heater he could blow past batters and a lethal companion — a curveball that Vin Scully coined Public Enemy №1. He later added a career-defining slider that made him a strikeout pitcher.
In his later years, he has morphed into a pitcher who earns outs by any means necessary.
He looked more like that as the White Sox resisted becoming part of history.
Kershaw allowed nine hits, walked one and gave up four runs. Five White Sox reached base on a two-strike count, including left fielder Austin Slater twice. He tripled in the first inning and later scored, and he hit a two-run home run in the third inning.
Kershaw struck out former teammate and the 12th White Sox hitter of the game Miguel Vargas looking with a curveball in the third inning. Lenyn Sosa became №2,999 to end the fifth inning.
It was the 92nd pitch of the night for Kershaw, and Alex Vesia was warming up in the bullpen at the time. After Kershaw earned the strikeout, Vesia stopped throwing and walked off the bullpen mound. A line of fans along the edge of the Field Level seats adjacent to the bullpen stood up and cheered Vesia, knowing it likely meant Kershaw would be coming out for the sixth inning.
Kershaw ran out for the sixth inning with a sense of urgency.
Two outs were recorded without a strikeout — the second though was a gut-punch. Chicago’s Michael A. Taylor was caught stealing at third base but he collided with Max Muncy’s knee. Muncy, Kershaw’s longest current Dodger teammate, clutched his knee in terrible pain. He later had to be helped off the field.
Kershaw reset against Capra. Roberts later said that no matter what happened, Capra was going to be the final hitter Kershaw would face.
Kershaw stood on the mound looking in.
The boy-faced 20-year-old is now the wise-man veteran. His beard is fuller and speckled with gray. The left-hander has pitched long enough to see two World Series championships and two numbers retired onto the Ring of Honor at Dodger Stadium.
His №22 will be there one day.
But before that, he had at least one more special moment to add to his Dodger Stadium and career history.
Strike three — a 3,000th time.
“I told my teammates individual awards are great, but if you don’t have anybody to celebrate with, it just doesn’t matter,” Kershaw said.
Kershaw left the game with the Dodgers trailing 4–2. They scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win 5–4 on Freddie Freeman’s walk-off single.
“This was such a special night, all the way around,” Kershaw said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more really.”
Clayton Kershaw becomes Mr. 3,000 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.