LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw had allowed one run and two hits and thrown only 69 pitches in six innings when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removed him from his start at Colorado on June 26.
The 37-year-old left-hander — a three-time National League Cy Young Award winner and the 2014 NL MVP — clearly could have continued. But he was three strikeouts away from a career 3,000, and Roberts wanted to make sure he notched his milestone whiff at Dodger Stadium in front of the fans who have adored him for much of the last 18 years.
“It’s like he’s at mile 26, there’s 0.2 left and he can see the finish line,” Roberts said before Wednesday night’s victory over the White Sox. “As far as his career, I think this is the last box. He’s won two championships, and he wants to finish this marathon. He’s three strikeouts away, so he can smell it.”
Kershaw did become the 20th pitcher in major-league history to reach 3,000 with his sixth-inning whiff of Vinny Capra in a 5-4 come-from-behind walk-off win. But by the time he joined one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs, he looked as though he’d just run an actual marathon. The pesky Sox battled him for six innings, putting so many two-strike pitches into play that it wasn’t until Kershaw’s 100th and final pitch of the night, a backdoor slider that nicked the outside corner for a called-third strike on Capra, that he recorded his third K to hit the milestone.
Kershaw looked gassed as he walked slowly off the mound, stopping in front of the third-base dugout, doffing his cap and tapping his chest to salute the sellout crowd of 53,536. He blew a kiss to his wife and kids in the loge level, then exchanged hugs and handshakes with teammates as a tribute video played on the scoreboard.
After Freddie Freeman capped a three-run rally in the ninth with an RBI single, Kershaw seemed as relieved as he was overjoyed.
“Yeah, I made it interesting for sure — I made it take too long,” Kershaw said. “It’s a little bit harder when you’re actually trying to strike people out. I’ve never really had to do that before. Give the White Sox credit, too. They didn’t make it easy on me at all.”
In the first three innings, the Sox roughed him up for four runs and seven hits, including a two-run homer and a triple by Austin Slater. Although Kershaw reached two-strike counts on 13 batters through five innings, he struck out only two: Miguel Vargas with his 51st pitch in the third and Lenyn Sosa with his 92nd pitch in the fifth.
But shortly after a violent collision in the sixth in which Michael A. Taylor knocked out Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy with a helmet-to-left-knee slide on a stolen-base attempt, Kershaw whiffed Capra.
“Running back out there for the sixth and hearing that crowd roar was up there for me in special moments — it really was,” Kershaw said. “Honestly, I didn’t pitch that great tonight, and the slider was so bad. But this was such a special night all the way around.”
Kershaw yielded to reliever Lou Trivino to start the seventh with the Sox leading 4-2.
Shohei Ohtani’s RBI fielder’s choice pulled the Dodgers to within one, and Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly off Steven Wilson tied the score 4-4. Will Smith walked, and Freeman followed with his game-winning hit to right.
“These never feel good, and they never will, the way that game ended, but to see a piece of history happen on the field and to be there for that was pretty cool,” said Slater, who’s 9-for-30 with six extra-base hits against Kershaw. “It’s a milestone that hasn’t happened a lot, so it’s cool to be a part of it one way or another.”
Kershaw, who has a 216-94 career record and 2.52 ERA, is one of four lefties to reach 3,000 K’s, joining Randy Johnson (4,875), Steve Carlton (4,136) and CC Sabathia (3,093). He’s one of three players in major-league history to reach 3,000 having played for one team in his career, joining Walter Johnson (3,509 strikeouts for the Washington Senators, 1907-27) and Bob Gibson (3,127 for the Cardinals, 1959-75).
“I don’t know if I put a ton of stock in being with one team early on — it was just kind of something that happened,” Kershaw said. “But over time, as you get older, you appreciate one organization a little bit more. The Dodgers have stuck with me, too. It hasn’t been all roses, I know that, so there’s just a lot of mutual respect.
“I’m super grateful now, looking back, to get to say that I spent my whole career here and will spend my whole career here. I have a lot more appreciation for it now for sure.”