Clayton Kershaw has been a staple in the Dodgers’ rotation for over ten years. Whenever he pitches, it’s almost certain that the strikeouts will start to stack up. And on Thursday night, he passed an all-time Dodgers legend for third in punch outs.
Kershaw’s 2,396th strikeout, tied with Sandy Koufax for 3rd all-time in Dodgers history.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) August 2, 2019
Kershaw struck out five through six innings, despite allowing a season-high five walks. He walked away well in position to secure his 10th win as well, thanks to a grand slam from his new battery-mate Will Smith. Kershaw won nine games last year in an injury riddled season.
Sandy Koufax pitched pitched for twelve years, all with the Dodgers. He won three Cy Young awards and won 165 games, but was forced to retire due to injury. Koufax was not granted the luxury of having advanced surgeries available to him, and his elbow forced him out of baseball far too early.
Only Don Drysdale and Don Sutton sit ahead of Kershaw now, with 2486 and 2696 respectively. He would need to strike out 89 more to reach Sutton, which he will likely do by the early part of 2020. He needs 300 more to become the Dodgers’ all-time leader, and he could get that done in 2020 as well.
Two earned runs on Thursday brought Kershaw’s ERA to 2.85 on the year.
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