When Clayton Kershaw made his main league debut as a gangly 20-year-old with a devastating curveball, he was thought-about a one-in-a-million expertise.
On Wednesday he entered a a lot smaller membership, turning into the twentieth pitcher in historical past to strike out 3,000 batters. The milestone got here within the sixth inning on his a hundredth pitch of the evening, a 1-and-2 slider the Chicago White Sox’s Vinny Capra took for a referred to as strike.
Kershaw then walked off the mound alone along with his ideas earlier than being mobbed by his teammates on the warning observe in entrance of the dugout. The Dodgers marked the second with a video of his appreciable profession highlights on the video boards above the outfield pavilions.
An hour later the Dodgers had much more to have a good time when Freddie Freeman’s two-out RBI single capped a three-run ninth-inning rally in a walk-off 5-4 win.
“It’s the last box for Clayton to check in his tremendous career,” mentioned Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts, who doubted many extra pitchers will ever be a part of the 3K membership.
“You’ve got to stay healthy, you’ve got to be good early in your career, you’ve got to be good for a long time,” he mentioned. “I’m a fan first and I’ve kind of appreciated longevity and moments like that, as opposed to one moment in time. The consistency is something that should be valued.”
Roberts mentioned earlier than the sport he would handle in another way as Kershaw approached the milestone and he did, permitting him to start out the sixth inning regardless of having made 92 pitches, essentially the most he’s thrown in a sport in additional than two years.
He would wish simply eight extra. Capra was the twenty seventh batter Kershaw confronted and the fifteenth he took to a two-strike rely.
“It’s a little bit harder when you’re actually trying to strike people out,” Kershaw mentioned. “I never really did that before.”
However he may sense the sellout crowd of 53,536 pulling for him each time he received shut.
“They wanted it for me so bad,” he mentioned. “And strikeouts tonight, I didn’t really do my part. But you could feel the tension and the fans. They were trying to will me to do it.”
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The Dodgers entered the ninth trailing 4-2 however loaded the bases with no outs on a single by Michael Conforto and walks to Tommy Edman and Hyeseong Kim.
Shohei Ohtani drove in a single run on a floor ball to second, hustling up the road to keep away from the double play. Mookie Betts adopted with a sacrifice fly to the warning observe in left-center to attain Edman with the tying run.
Ohtani then stole second, scoring two batters afterward Freeman’s single to proper.
That saved Kershaw, who gave up a season-high 9 hits, from taking his first lack of the season. However the Dodgers could have suffered a fair larger loss on the primary pitch of the Capra at-bat when Chicago’s Michael Taylor slid onerous into Max Muncy on an unsuccessful try and steal third.
Muncy, who hit a team-high .333 in June, writhed on the bottom earlier than being helped off the sector, favoring his left knee. His situation was not instantly identified.
Roberts mentioned Muncy will bear an MRI examination on Thursday however added “that we feel optimistic and our hope is that it’s a sprain.”
Taylor additionally left the sport with a left shoulder bruise.
Almost three hours earlier Kershaw had been greeted by a loud ovation when he stepped onto the sector to stretch about 40 minutes earlier than sport time. However the loudest roar — apart the one for the report strikeout — got here when Kershaw bounded out of the dugout to start out the sixth.
“The energy in the crowd definitely palpable,” he mentioned. “That ovation was something that I’ll never forget, for sure. And then the toast after the game with everybody. I’ll remember those things.”
The White Sox, in the meantime, wished no a part of the social gathering. They compelled Kershaw to labor by way of a 29-pitch first inning wherein he confronted six hitters, giving up a run and three hits. And it may have been worse, with a leaping Conforto robbing Lenyn Sosa of a three-run house run on the bullpen gate in left discipline for the ultimate out.
Strikeout No. 3,000!
Clayton Kershaw turns into the twentieth pitcher in Main League Baseball historical past to report 3,000 profession strikeouts. pic.twitter.com/mD7tM1POJC
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 3, 2025
Will Smith, introduced as an All-Star starter together with Freeman and Ohtani earlier within the day, received that run again with two out within the backside of the primary, lining a full-count pitch into the left-field bleachers. White Sox opener Brandon Eisert didn’t return for the second inning and Andy Pages greeted his alternative rudely, driving Sean Burke’s first pitch over the wall in heart for his seventeenth homer.
The Dodgers’ lead was short-lived, nevertheless, with Chase Meidroth opening the Chicago third with a single, then trotting house on Austin Slater’s two-run homer. Chicago added one other run later within the inning on a one-out double from Andrew Benintendi and an RBI single from Edgar Quero.
Kershaw and the Dodgers, nevertheless, endured and on the finish of the evening the group had a win and the pitcher had joined an unique membership.
“It’s an incredible list,” Kershaw mentioned. “I’m super, super grateful to be a part of it.”
And so on.
Earlier than Wednesday’s sport, pitchers Blake Snell and Blake Treinen threw to hitters for the primary time since occurring the injured listing in April. Snell, a two-time Cy Younger winner, went on the injured listing due to shoulder irritation April 6 whereas Treinen has been sidelined due to forearm tightness since April 19. “They’ll go again in a couple days,” Roberts mentioned. “But both guys looked really good.” Proper-hander Tyler Glasnow, additionally out since April due to shoulder irritation, is scheduled to make his third minor league rehab begin for Oklahoma Metropolis on Thursday.
Employees author Ira Gorawara contributed to this report.
