Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports
On this day in Los Angeles Dodgers history, Clayton Kershaw achieved his 2,000th career strikeout with a dominant start against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Kershaw accomplished the feat on June 2, 2017, striking out 14 batters in seven innings.
The left-hander, taking the mound at Miller Park, needed four more strikeouts to reach the milestone. Kershaw achieved his 2,000th career strikeout when he struck out Jonathan Villar in the second inning.
Kershaw became the third-fastest pitcher in MLB history to reach this milestone (based on innings pitched), with Pedro Martinez needing 1,715.1 innings to do so, while Randy Johnson needed 1,734 innings to do so.
Kershaw’s 1,837.2 strikeouts is ahead of fourth-place Nolan Ryan, who didn’t reach 2,000 strikeouts until his 1,874th major league inning.
In terms of games pitched, only Johnson (262) has more strikeouts than Kershaw (277). Overall, Kershaw became the 79th pitcher in MLB history to reach 2,000 career strikeouts.
Despite his impressive performance against the Brewers, Kershaw had no influence in the decision to win 2-1 as the Dodgers needed extra innings.
Kershaw finished the 2017 season with an 18-4 record, a 2.31 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP and 202 strikeouts in 27 starts.
Clayton Kershaw’s career strikeout record
Kershaw’s other accomplishments include striking out 301 batters in 2015, becoming the first pitcher to accomplish the feat since Curt Schilling and Hall of Famer Randy Johnson did so in 2002. Kershaw joins Sandy Koufax as the only Dodger pitchers with 300 strikeouts in a season, a feat that Koufax accomplished in 1963, 1965 and 1966.
And during the 2022 season, Kershaw passed Don Sutton as the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader.
The next milestone is 3,000 career strikeouts. Kershaw now has 2,944 career strikeouts and is hopeful he will return from left shoulder surgery sometime after the All-Star break.
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