Clayton Kershaw became the 20th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts and the Los Angeles Dodgers put together a late rally to win on a walk-off single from Freddie Freeman. However, the win came at the cost of Max Muncy, who suffered a knee injury during the game.
Kershaw took the mound at Dodger Stadium with plenty of buzz and the sold-out crowd hanging onto every pitch. He regularly got to two-strike counts against White Sox batters but they continued to put the ball in play.
That amounted to taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning and jumping back in front when Austin Slater hit a two-run home run in the third. Edgar Quero’s RBI single extended their lead to 4-2 before Kershaw could get out of the third inning, at which point he only had one strikeout, which was against former teammate Miguel Vargas.
But Kershaw stayed in the game and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pushed him deeper into the game than he normally would. Kershaw recorded his second strikeout to end the fifth inning, and it seemed that could have been the end of his night.
However, Kershaw went back out for the sixth and with two outs in the inning, he recorded the historic strikeout on his 100th pitch of the outing against Vinny Capra.
THERE IT IS! 3,000 FOR CLAYTON KERSHAW! pic.twitter.com/E9qmh7dES5
— Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) July 3, 2025
As for the Dodgers offense, they were only able to score on two solo home runs for most of the game.
The first came off the bat of Will Smith to tie the game in the bottom of the first. The second came from Andy Pages in the second inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
Sean Burke pitched the bulk of the game for the White Sox, allowing just one run on six hits over six innings of work. He added five strikeouts to one walk.
The Dodgers finally put together a rally in the ninth inning, loading the bases with no outs for the top of the lineup. Shohei Ohtani grounded into a fielder’s choice to make it a one-run game with runners still at the corners.
Mookie Betts then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. After Will Smith worked a walk, Freeman singled home the game-winning run to complete the comeback and walk it off.
Max Muncy suffers knee injury in Dodgers win
Unfortunately, just before Kershaw hit his milestone, Muncy suffered his injury. With one out in the sixth, Michael A. Taylor doubled and then attempted to steal third base.
On his slide, he collided with Muncy, who bent his leg in an awkward way and immediately went down in what looked to be significant pain while holding his left knee. Muncy ended up limping off the field with help from the training staff, hardly putting any weight on his leg.
The Dodgers announced he left the game with left knee pain, but gave no further announcement as he undergoes additional testing. While Muncy was on the field, the trainers appeared to perform a Lachman test, which is used to test injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
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