Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw notched his 3,000th career strikeout on Wednesday, becoming the 20th pitcher, and 4th lefty, to reach the hallowed milestone.
Prior to his team’s 5-4 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox, only Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia had accumulated that many strikeouts as southpaws. Now historians can add another name to the list.
Making the feat extra special is the fact that Kershaw’s been able to do it all with one franchise. Something only 4 others (Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, and John Smoltz) were able to accomplish.
“I don’t know if I put a ton of stock in being with one team early on,” Kershaw told reporters after the game. “It’s just kind of something that happened. Over time, I think as you get older, and you appreciate one organization a little bit more — the Dodgers have stuck with me too. It hasn’t been all roses. I know that. There’s just a lot of mutual respect, I think. I’m super grateful now, looking back. To say that I’ve spent my whole career here and I will spend my whole career here — I have a lot more appreciation for it now.”
When all was said and done, the 37 year old tallied 3,000 strikeouts in just 2,787.1IP, making him the fourth fastest to reach the mark. A 10x All-Star, NL MVP, and 3x NL Cy Young Award winner, Kershaw will be a first ballot hall of famer whenever he decides to call it a career.
The Dallas native’s 2.52 career ERA is the lowest of the live ball era (1920 onwards) amongst qualified starters with at least 1,500 innings pitched.
“We’ve been through it,” Kershaw said. “We have. I’ve been through it a lot, ups and downs here. More downs than I care to admit. But the fans tonight, it really meant a lot. Usually I try not to acknowledge anything before the game, just because I try to lock it in a little bit. But it was too hard not to tonight. It was overwhelming to feel that. I don’t have a lot of great words other than it was really special.”
It certainly wasn’t his prettiest of starts, as the White Sox tagged him for 4 earned runs, 9 hits, and a homer through 6 innings. In fact, the lefty needed 29 pitches just to get out of the first inning.But as they say, it isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish. And Kershaw certainly won’t be complaining after punching out Vinny Capra with a backdoor slider to record the final out of the 6th inning.
Of his 3,000 career K’s, Kershaw sat down 959 different batters, including 3 first timers in Capra, Miguel Vargas, and Lenyn Sosa on Wednesday. Across 18 years, 14 different catchers have been behind the plate for Kershaw’ starts, with each of them catching at least 2 strikeouts along the way.
Indeed it was fitting that it would be a slider that helped former 7th overall pick finally reach the 3K plateau, as it’s been his most effective pitch over the course of his career. Of his three thousand strikeouts, 1,314 of them have come courtesy of his slider, accounting for 43.8% of his total.
For now it’s champagne and celebrations for Kershaw and the Dodgers. But they’ll be back in action tonight as they wrap up their series vs. Chicago in a 10:10pm ET showdown.
Photo: Arturo Pardavila III. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.