Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has accomplished countless feats in what one day will be Hall of Fame career, and that was again the case on Thursday night when he reached 2,500 career strikeouts in a 5-1 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Not only did Kershaw record his 2,500th strikeout, but he also passed Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson (2,507) for 38th on the all-time strikeout list. Earlier this season he moved ahead of Don Drysdale on the Dodgers’ all-time strikeouts list.
Records and accolades have never meant much to Kershaw in the moment, and that was again the case when he reached this milestone. “That’s cool. It’s obviously a huge honor,” he said.
“Thankful I’ve been able to be here long enough to do it, and hopefully I can keep going.”
Kershaw had a brilliant outing on the night, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning before it was broken up on an infield single by Christian Walker. His pitch count was pretty high though, so he likely wouldn’t have been able to finish it out regardless.
In his six shutout innings, Kershaw allowed just the one hit while striking out eight and walking two on 99 pitches. He has been in a groove as of late and has now entered the National League Cy Young conversation, improving to 5-1 on the season to go along with a 1.50 ERA and 0.72 WHIP.
And when further asked about moving up all-time lists, Kershaw further explained his ability to be humbled by the accomplishment without yet fully grasping it.
“I don’t ever want to discredit any of the stuff that’s happening, because it is cool. It really is. It’s just hard for me to think about or wrap my head around,” he said. “Being associated with names like that, getting to see your name on different types of leaderboards is cool. It’s not not cool. It’s just hard to grasp.”
Kershaw didn’t quite believe in no-hitter
Although Kershaw had his entire pitch mix working and the Diamondbacks were without a hit for a handful of innings, he hadn’t quite started to believe in a potential no-hitter.
“If I were to get through the sixth there, I think after that it starts becoming a little more real. But really, up until then, to me it’s not really real until after the sixth,” Kershaw said. “After the seventh you’ve got a real chance.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the sixth inning was going to be Kershaw’s last, regardless of whether or not he had allowed a hit.
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