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 On a pitch count to prepare for the playoffs, the left-hander
entered the game needing six strikeouts to achieve the milestone.
He led off by striking out Melvin Upton Jr. and reached the 300-mark
when he got Upton again in the third inning before he calmly walked
back to the dugout to a standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium
crowd in Los Angeles.
That put the 27-year-old pitcher, the National League's most
valuable player in 2014, in an elite '300' club along with Curt
Schilling (2002) and Hall of Famer Randy Johnson (2000, 2001 and
2002).
"Just pitch normally. If my pitch count got there by the time I got
the six strikeouts, I would've came out of the game," Kershaw told
mlb.com.
"Just the importance factor of trying to be fresh for the playoffs
is more important than 300 strikeouts."
Kershaw, who is also a three-time Cy Young Award winner, joined
fellow left-hander Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers pitchers to
reach 300 strikeouts in a single season. Koufax last achieved the
feat in 1966.
After reaching his limit of 60 pitches, Kershaw left the game to
another standing ovation in the fourth, having registered seven
strikeouts while allowing only two baserunners on singles in 3-2/3
innings.
The left-hander retired 10 successive batters from the first through
the fourth innings and finished with 301 strikeouts before the
Dodgers went on to complete their win.
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"It's definitely a cool thing," Kershaw added of the milestone.
"It's obviously not the most important thing in the world. But when
you settle down and look back on a career, you get to say that you
did it once."
The Dodgers will head into the National League Division Series
against the New York Mets in Los Angeles on Friday on a four-game
winning streak.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Greg
Stutchbury)
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