Kershaw checks off one last box with 3,000 strikeouts

Reaction from Dodger Stadium of a milestone night for Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw needed only three strikeouts on Wednesday night to get to 3,000, and he induced his most swinging strikes in any start this season. But it took three full times through the White Sox lineup for the Dodgers icon to finally get that milestone strikeout, finishing off six grueling innings on his season-high 100th pitch.

“It’s a little bit harder when you’re actually trying to strike people out,” Kershaw said. “I’ve never really had to do that before.”

Kershaw got to two strikes on 15 of his 27 batters faced, and 25 of his 100 pitches came with two strikes. He just had trouble finishing off those counts. He induced a season-high 15 swinging strikes, but only two of them were with two strikes. Fourteen of the 25 two-strike pitches were sliders, one of which was hit for a three-run home run.

“Honestly, I didn’t pitch that great tonight,” Kershaw said. “The slider was so bad.”

The Dodger Stadium crowd was waiting to erupt at each potential strikeout, but were induced to groans when so many two-strike pitches were put into play, or when home plate umpire Jim Wolf would call a ball. Austin Slater’s home run in the third inning meant Kershaw was trailing for most of his game, which added to the unease.

Kershaw was given more rope than usual at this stage of his career, a contrast from his previous start last Thursday afternoon in Colorado when he was pulled after only 69 pitches having allowed just one run in six innings at Coors Field. Everything seemed orchestrated for Kershaw to get those final few strikeouts at home to get to 3,000, but it’s hard to predict baseball, and Wednesday’s game was quite the uphill battle.

“I was going to give him every opportunity to do it at home,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Adding to the oddness of the night, with Kershaw one strikeout away from 3,000, and with one out in the sixth inning, Michael A. Taylor was thrown out trying to steal third base, a play in which Max Muncy injured his left knee and was writhing on the ground in pain for several minutes before exiting the game.

“[Muncy] made a great play,” Kershaw said. “I don’t really know why he stole there, it just seemed unnecessary.”

The steal came on the first pitch to Vinny Capra, who was going to be Kershaw’s last batter, so it was either get the strikeout here or move the milestone watch to Milwaukee next week. Kershaw’s 100th and final pitch was another slider, which Capra took for strike three.

“It was a backup [slider], it wasn’t really a good one. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be,” Kershaw said.

Having the milestone strikeout happen as the final out of an inning made for an easy transition into an ovation which lasted for about six minutes, delaying the start of the bottom of the frame, including a curtain call for Kershaw.

“I think it happened the way it’s supposed to happen, in the sense that it was the third out, and we got a chance to really celebrate him, for him to take the moment,” Roberts said. “It was a huge moment, and I’m really happy for Clayton.”

“I would have much rather just gotten it done in the first [inning]. But looking back on it, with us winning the game, and my last pitch of the night being the strikeout, I don’t think I would change it now,” Kershaw said. “I mean, I’d give up less runs, probably, but for us to come out on top and be able to end it like that was pretty awesome.”

Though Kershaw struggled and gave up four runs on Wednesday, none came in the final three innings, and he’s lasted at least six innings in three of his last four starts. Since the start of June, the 37-year-old left-hander leads the Dodgers in innings pitched. In a rotation with so many injuries, Kershaw has helped stabilize the pitching staff, which wasn’t really expected of him this season.

“it’s just a reminder for me, for anyone, to never bet against that guy. It doesn’t matter his health, stuff. He’s going to will himself to doing whatever the team needs,” Roberts said. “Up until now, in the first three months of the season, we’ve needed some length from the starters. And once he got his footing under him after the first few, he’s done everything and more that we’ve needed. That hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

Kershaw’s 3,000 strikeouts put him in select company, just the 20th pitcher ever to do so, and only the fifth to amass that many strikeouts for one team. If Kershaw ends his career with the Dodgers as expected, he’ll join Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson as the only 3,000-strikeout pitchers to only play for one major league franchise.

“I don’t know if I put a ton of stock in being with one team early on, it’s just kind of something that happened. Over time, I think as you get older and appreciate one organizatio a little bit more. You know the Dodgers have stuck with me, too. It hasn’t been all roses, I know that,” Kershaw said. “There’s just a lot of mutual respect, and I’m super grateful now, looking back to get to say that I spent my whole career here and I will spend my whole career here, I have a lot more appreciation for it, for sure.”

Roberts earlier in the day said of Kershaw, “He’s going to have a statue at some point,” which would put the left-hander in select company at Dodger Stadium alongside Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson. With three Cy Young Awards, an MVP, 10 All-Star nods and various accolades during his 18-year career, Kershaw reached one more milestone on Wednesday night.

“He’s at mile 26, there’s 0.2 left, and he’s like, ‘I can see the finish line,’” Roberts said. “There’s still more work to be done in the season, but as far as his career, I think that this is the last box. This is it. He’s won two championships, and he wants this. He wants to finish this marathon.”