This day in Los Angeles Dodgers history saw Clayton Kershaw reach 2,000 career strikeouts during a dominant start against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Kershaw achieved the feat with 14 strikeouts over seven innings on June 2, 2017.
The left-hander took the mound at Miller Park needing just four strikeouts to reach the milestone. Kershaw’s 2,000th career strikeout came in the second inning when he got Jonathan Villar swinging.
Kershaw became the third-fastest pitcher (by innings) to 2,000 strikeouts in MLB history. Pedro Martinez accomplished the feat in 1,715.1 innings pitched, while Randy Johnson needed 1,734 innings.
Kershaw’s 1,837.2 is ahead of fourth-place Nolan Ryan, who didn’t reach 2,000 career strikeouts until his 1,874th inning of work in the Majors.
In terms of games pitched, only Johnson (262 games) bested Kershaw (277). Overall, Kershaw became the 79th pitcher in MLB history to reach 2,000 career strikeouts.
Despite the brilliant outing against the Brewers, the Dodgers needed extra innings and thus Kershaw did not factor into the decision of their 2-1 victory.
Kershaw finished the 2017 season with a 18-4 record to go along with a 2.31 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 202 strikeouts over 27 starts.
Clayton Kershaw career strikeouts milestones
Among other accomplishments for Kershaw were 301 strikeouts in 2015, making him the first pitcher to reach the milestone since Curt Schilling and Hall of Famer Randy Johnson both did so in 2002. Kershaw joined Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers pitcher to record 300 strikeouts in a season. Koufax accomplished the feat in 1963, 1965 and 1966.
Then during the 2022 season, Kershaw passed Don Sutton to become the all-time Dodgers strikeouts leader.
The final strikeouts milestone for Kershaw was reaching 3,000, which he achieved during July of the 2025 season. The accomplishment during Kershaw’s final season became theme for a bobblehead giveaway the Dodgers planned in September of last year.
Kershaw became the 20th pitcher in MLB history with 3,000 career strikeouts, only the fourth left-hander to achieve the feat and the first Dodgers pitcher ever to reach that threshold.
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