DENVER — Coors Field has never been particularly kind to Clayton Kershaw. His 4.53 ERA in 28 career starts there is his highest at any ballpark where he has pitched more than twice.
Dodger Stadium will be a much more appropriate setting to validate his Hall of Fame career.
Kershaw moved within reach of 3,000 career strikeouts with one of his better mile-high outings on Thursday afternoon. He allowed just two hits over six innings as the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the struggling Colorado Rockies with a 3-1 victory.
Kershaw struck out five and now has 2,997 career strikeouts. He will need three in his next start to become the 20th pitcher in baseball history to reach 3,000 strikeouts. That next start will be Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium where he has already racked up 1,627 of them.
“Yeah, it would be very special. It would be,” Kershaw said of reaching the milestone at home.
“I knew I had eight to go (going into Thursday’s start). Freddie (Freeman) is really good at reminding me every day. And eight in Colorado is never going to be easy to do. But (I) pitched well, got through six. And a chance to strike out three at home would be really cool.”
Kershaw has indeed pitched well since stumbling out of the gate and allowing five runs in four innings in his first start after returning from knee and foot surgeries. In seven starts since then, he has a 2.08 ERA and has held opposing batters to a .222 average. The Dodgers have won his past five starts.
“He’s been pitching really well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s certainly competing, making pitches. I think he’s gotten better each time out, even with not the best of stuff. I thought today, the life of the fastball was good. The slider early was really good. Had the curveball early as well. Started losing feel with that. But he just found a way to be efficient, get quick outs.
“I thought he did a fantastic job. Chipped away, got a little closer.”
The dominant stuff that piled up most of those strikeouts has mostly deserted Kershaw. But he can still be a force on the mound, now getting hitters out with guile, craftmanship honed over 18 major-league seasons and determination – and, on a good day, that slider.
Thursday was one of those good days. He struck out three in the first two innings but largely used the young Rockies’ eagerness to his advantage to get quick outs. He needed 12 or fewer pitches to retire the side in four of his six innings and was needed just 69 to get through six innings on a warm day. Eleven of the 18 outs he recorded came on the infield.
“He has given us a shot in the arm,” Roberts said of Kershaw’s return to a depleted rotation.
“He’s got the fastball command back. I think there is an aura to facing Clayton Kershaw that he’s earned. And he’s mixing. It’s not just slider. It’s slider, it’s fastball to both sides of the plate. It’s curveball. It’s the changeup once in a while.”
Brenton Doyle jumped on a first-pitch slider that got too much of the plate for a solo home run in the second inning, the only damage the Rockies managed to inflict on Kershaw.
Miguel Rojas can take some credit for that. Kershaw’s only walk of the day came on four pitches to Thairo Estrada leading off the fourth inning with the score tied 1-1. Michael Toglia pulled a hard ground ball down the third base line where Rojas was making one of his occasional starts. The veteran infielder made a sprawling stop and threw quickly to second base, starting a double play.
“I thought that was a game-changing play,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers matched Doyle’s home run with a single run in the third inning. Rojas doubled with one out, advanced to third on a wild pitch then scored when first baseman Michael Toglia made a sprawling stop of Mookie Betts’ hard ground ball to his right only to pop up and find no one covering first base. Betts beat him to the bag for an infield single.
The Dodgers took the lead in the sixth inning when Freddie Freeman briefly poked his head out from the most prolonged slump of his Dodgers career. Freeman’s RBI single cashed in a leadoff double by Betts. But that was Freeman’s only hit and he ended the day with just seven hits in his past 50 at-bats.
“I think he just wants consistency from his swing, wants to feel right consistently,” Roberts said. “And I thought the last handful of at-bats have been better. I know he didn’t like the groundout that last at-bat. But he found some outfield grass, drove in a run. It’s something to build on.”
Shohei Ohtani found some bullpen grass, hitting his 28th home run of the season into the Dodgers’ bullpen in the seventh inning and Andy Pages closed out the game with a defensive highlight.
Tanner Scott walked Rockies leadoff man Tyler Freeman to start the ninth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate. Scott struck out Jordan Beck, but Estrada hit a line drive into center field that Tyler Freeman clearly thought was going to drop in. Pages got to it, though, and fired back to first base, doubling him off to end the game.
“When I saw him, yes, because it was a low liner and wasn’t great contact,” Pages said in Spanish when asked if he was surprised to see Freeman so far off first base on Estrada’s liner. “A lot of times that ball lands, especially in this ballpark that has a ton of room. But the moment when I saw him, yeah, I saw he was off the bag.”
That closed out the 216th win of Kershaw’s career, tying him with Max Scherzer for second among active players (behind Justin Verlander’s 262).
“I’m excited,” Roberts said of Kershaw potentially making history at home next week. “Everyone back home, they can lock in on next Wednesday when he’s going to make that start. He’s got three more (strikeouts) to go, so we can make history.
“For him to be able to do it in the home whites – it’s going to be fun, exciting.”