SAN DIEGO — Clayton Kershaw had made 423 regular-season starts and recorded at least one strikeout in every one of them, a streak that began with his introduction to the major leagues, spanned his career as the game's most dominant pitcher and persisted amid continued injuries.
On Wednesday night, during his second start after his first arm surgery, Kershaw's streak finally ended.
In a matchup against the San Diego Padres, the team with the highest contact rate in the majors, Kershaw recorded 11 putouts, allowed seven runs and did not strike out a batter, handing his short-handed Los Angeles Dodgers an 8-1 loss at Petco Park.
“I was missing a lot of things,” Kershaw said. “I wasn't executing well, I wasn't throwing anything where I wanted to or how I wanted to. It was frustrating overall.”
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, since 1893, when the mound was moved to its current location, no pitcher has made more regular-season starts with at least one strikeout than Kershaw. The two just below him (Tom Seaver with 411, Nolan Ryan with 382) are legends. Kershaw's only other regular-season game without a strikeout was Sept. 28, 2008, against the Giants, but that was in a relief appearance.
The fact that Kershaw's streak has lasted as long as it has is a testament to his excellence. The fact that it's over is perhaps indicative of his current status, coming off shoulder surgery and pitching in his age-36 season.
The Padres, winners of nine of 11 games since the All-Star break, scored four runs in the second inning and three more in the fourth. Only three of the runs charged to Kershaw were earned. But some of those were due to a rare error by Kershaw himself, when he mishandled a one-out bunt that could have resulted in an easy out at home. The Padres took 41 swings at Kershaw and struck out just twice, a 4.9% missed-swing rate that remains the lowest of any Kershaw start, including the playoffs.
“Physically I feel good,” Kershaw said. “Honestly, I felt pretty good last game, but this one, obviously, was really bad.”
Kershaw threw a fastball that hovered in the mid-90s, not abnormal for him at this stage, and a slider that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said lacked pop. Roberts pointed out what in the grand scheme of things seemed like an insignificant sequence, when Jurickson Profar lined a second-inning RBI single to right-center field by lifting a slider well below the strike zone.
“We don't see them getting under the slider and really elevating it like they did tonight,” Roberts said. “That speaks to the teeth of the slider tonight.”
The Dodgers have lost two straight games against the Padres, but they are also far from complete. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, two of their top three hitters, are not with the team. Chris Taylor and Miguel Rojas are on the injured list. Their three position player additions before the trade deadline — Tommy Edman, Amed Rosario and Kevin Kiermaier — have yet to be inserted into the lineup. However, the Padres have beaten them seven of 10 times in 2024, clinching the season series. The Dodgers still hold a 5½-game lead in the NL West, but they finished July with an 11-13 record.
“We'll get through this,” catcher Will Smith said. “There's no doubt about it. We're the Dodgers. We're the best team in baseball.”
To be considered the best — a distinction reserved for champions — the Dodgers need a rotation that can carry them into October. The addition of Jack Flaherty, who can form a solid duo with Tyler Glasnow, will certainly help. But the Dodgers face uncertainty beyond those two. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is working his way back from what’s been diagnosed as a rotator cuff strain and has yet to leave the mound; Walker Buehler struggled mightily after his second Tommy John surgery and is still recovering from a hip injury; and Bobby Miller was banged up in his return from a shoulder injury, prompting an assignment to the minor leagues.
If the quality of Kershaw's material is evident in the lack of swing-and-miss he generated on Wednesday, there is concern there, too.
“I just need to pitch better,” Kershaw said. “It happens sometimes. There's a lot of things that can be overanalyzed when you pitch bad. But for now I'm just going to say it was bad and try to pitch better next time.”
