Clayton Kershaw made his fifth start of the 2025 season on June 7 against the St. Louis Cardinals, striking out seven over five innings of work while allowing only one run in a key win for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kershaw entered Sunday’s game with 2,976 career strikeouts, putting him three behind former Dodgers teammate Zack Greinke. After retiring Cardinals batter Jose Barrero on strikes in the third inning, Kershaw passed Greinke to move up to No. 20 on the MLB all-time strikeouts list.
Kershaw took the opportunity to have some good-natured fun at the expense of Greinke, via SportsNet LA:
“I like that one. That’s good. I need to Zack. That’s good. Hopefully he finds out that I beat him and he texts me.”
Greinke joined the Dodgers as a free agent in 2012 by agreeing to a six-year, $147 million contract. It was the largest contract ever for a right-handed pitcher at the time.
He turned out to be a phenomenal singing for the Dodgers with a record of 51-15, a 2.30 ERA, and 555 strikeouts in 92 appearances. Greinke received National League Cy Young Award votes each season he was with the Dodgers, finishing as high as second in 2015.
The 2015 season was Greinke’s best with the Dodgers and one of the best of his career. Greinke finished with a 1.66 ERA, 200 strikeouts, and a 0.84 WHIP in 222.2 innings.
Greinke ended up outperforming his once-historic contract with the Dodgers and opted out of the final three years following the conclusion of the 2015 season.
He capitalized on the peak of his value and signed a six-year, $206.5 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks prior to the 2016 season.
The duo of Kershaw and Greinke atop the rotation gave the Dodgers the best one-two punch in the league for the three seasons they were together. But it wasn’t enough to get them past the National League Championship Series in 2013, or the NL Division Series in 2014 and 2015.
Clayton Kershaw calls out Cardinals
During the final game of the series between the Dodgers and the Cardinals, video of Matt Adams’ game-winning home run against him in Game 4 of the 2014 National League Division Series was played on a loop at Busch Stadium.
Kershaw was critical of the Cardinals’ decision to do so following the end of the game.
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