Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw collected the 2,500th strikeout of his career during Thursday night’s game against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
Kershaw reached the milestone with his third strikeout of the night, throwing a looping curve that got Nick Ahmed swinging in the second inning.
At 32 years, 168 days old, Kershaw is the third-youngest pitcher to reach the milestone, behind Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan (31 years, 101 days) and Walter Johnson (31 years, 197 days), according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
Kershaw is the second pitcher in Dodgers history to reach the mark, joining Don Sutton, and the 11th southpaw all time to get there. He’s the only left-hander to reach 2,500 strikeouts with a sub-3.00 ERA — he entered the game with a 2.43 career ERA.
Kershaw joins Justin Verlander (3,013), Max Scherzer (2,753), Zack Greinke (2,657) and Cole Hamels (2,558) as the only active pitchers with 2,500 strikeouts.