Clayton Kershaw got to the precipice of history on Thursday afternoon. And now, when he inevitably crosses the 3,000 career strikeout milepost, it will almost certainly happen on his home mound.
For a moment, it seemed as if Kershaw might be able to eclipse the threshold on Thursday. At the end of the sixth inning, he had thrown only 69 pitches while mowing through a free-swinging Rockies lineup.
Alas, manager Dave Roberts gave his 37-year-old left-hander an early hook, turning a narrow late-game lead over to his bullpen — and preserving the opportunity for Kershaw’s milestone moment to happen back at Dodger Stadium during next week’s homestand.
“I would argue there might be a temptation to take him out [today] and let him go for it in front of the home fans,” Roberts said pregame, when asked if he would consider extending Kershaw’s leash to let him chase his 3,000th strikeout on Thursday. “I’m not going to force anything.”
Ever since Kershaw returned from offseason foot and knee surgeries in May, and showed an ability to produce even with a diminished fastball and increasing mileage on his arm, his pursuit of 3,000 strikeouts has felt less like an “if” than a “when.”
Entering Thursday, his career total was up to 2,992, leaving him just eight shy of becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB history, and only the fourth left-hander, to join the prestigious 3K club.
“I guess ultimately the last box he needs to check for his future Hall of Fame career is that 3,000-strikeout threshold,” Roberts said. “We’re all waiting in anticipation.”
More impressively, though, Kershaw has been winning games and limiting runs for the Dodgers (51-31), improving to 4-0 with a 3.03 earned-run average through eight starts this season.
“I think there’s good days and bad days, good pitches and bad pitches,” Kershaw said. “Not as consistent, not as perfect as I would want. But the results have been OK. And at the end of the day, we’re winning games that I’ve been on the mound. So I’m thankful for that. Just a product of being on a great team.”
Kershaw wasn’t exactly expecting to reach the 3,000 mark Thursday, acknowledging that “eight in Colorado is never going to be easy to do.”
Over his first two innings, however, he quickly inched closer. Thairo Estrada whiffed on a curveball in the first inning. And though Brenton Doyle hit a solo homer in the second, Kershaw set Michael Toglia and Orlando Arcia both down swinging with a slider and curveball, respectively.
“I just love that edge that he gives each start day,” Roberts said. “We certainly feed off that.”
Kershaw didn’t get another strikeout until the end of the fifth, retiring the side with a slider that froze Braxton Fulford for a called third strike. An inning before that, he was bailed out by his defense after his lone walk, when Miguel Rojas turned a spinning double-play up the line at third base to erase the free pass.
“It could’ve been one run in, runner on second, nobody out,” Kershaw said. “So to turn that double-play there was kind of a game-changer. … Biggest play of the day.”
Still, in the sixth, all eyes returned to Kershaw’s strikeout total after Tyler Freeman was rung up on a generous outside strike call to finish off an eight-pitch at-bat.
Though it would have required striking out the side, Kershaw was as little as one inning away from No. 3,000.
Instead, Roberts decided to end his day, ensuring that the next time Kershaw takes the mound — likely to be next Wednesday at home against the Chicago White Sox — he will need only three more strikeouts to do something only two pitchers before have ever done: Have a 3,000-strikeout career while playing for only one team.
“It would be very special,” Kershaw said of potentially reaching the milestone at Dodger Stadium. “It would be.”
Ohtani to pitch Saturday
While Kershaw mowed through the Rockies (18-63), Shohei Ohtani delivered the biggest swing of the day for the Dodgers, padding what was only a 2-1 lead in the seventh with a solo home run to right, his NL-leading 28th of the year.
The blast came hours after the other big news of the day, with Roberts confirming pregame that the two-way star will make his next start as a pitcher on Saturday against the Kansas City Royals.
That game will mark Ohtani’s third pitching outing of the season and could be his first in which he goes beyond the first inning. Last week, Roberts hinted at the possibility of Ohtani — who is still building up in his return from Tommy John surgery — pitching into the second inning, but he has continued to leave any final decisions open-ended.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.