Dodgers 5, White Sox 4: Clayton Kershaw secures strikeout #3000 + Freddie walks it off to complete comeback (but team may have lost Muncy)

Chad Moriyama 07/02/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

(Via @MLB)

It was an awfully weird game today. The focus was obviously on Clayton Kershaw‘s pursuit of 3000 strikeouts, and all the magic surrounding that had the crowd buzzing, but the White Sox were battling hard to not be a part of that, and there was audible disappointment by the middle innings. Kershaw rallied late for strikeouts to seal the achievement, but even that also came after the air was sucked out of the stadium when they potentially lost Max Muncy for a while due to injury. And that doesn’t even get into the wild game itself.

Regardless, Kershaw got #3000 and obviously it’s an incredible achievement that we may not see again, and we’re all lucky as fans to be a part of his journey to the mark.

More on the strikeout itself, the celebration afterward, and reactions later on in the recap.

Speaking of the game, the White Sox surged against Kershaw to take a lead, and then the bats couldn’t cash in on their chances. Things looked bleak … until the 9th, when the Dodgers dramatically rallied for three runs to walk it off in a 5-4 win.

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Obviously the attention of everybody in the game was directed towards Clayton Kershaw and his quest for 3000 strikeouts, but it unfortunately seemed to be one for the White Sox as well, as they focused on contact and got results out of it.

Kershaw didn’t manage to tally a strikeout in the 1st despite five two-strike accounts, and he gave up a one-out triple and a two-out single to Andrew Benintendi to start the scoring with a White Sox run.

Things could’ve been a lot worse, as after an infield single followed, a ball was hit to the wall in left where Michael Conforto was thankfully waiting to make a leaping catch.

Kershaw rebounded with a clean 2nd that also didn’t have a strikeout despite two more two-strike counts. The 3rd was then a bit of a mess, as a single and Austin Slater homer plated a pair of runs.

He did then get strikeout #2998 against Miguel Vargas…

…but a double and Edgar Quero single made it four runs. There were three more two-strike counts in that inning, making it 10 for the day but with only one capitalized on.

In the 4th, he got another three two-strike accounts and an out on a sac bunt (?), but couldn’t get a strikeout. In the 5th, just when it looked like he might not get it, he closed with a strikeout of Lenyn Sosa for strikeout #2999.

The brought up the bizarre 6th inning, which included a huge swing of emotions. After an initial out, Michael Taylor doubled, which was important because he tried to steal third, and while Will Smith threw him out as Max Muncy applied the tag, Taylor’s head and shoulder collided with Max’s knee. Muncy was down for a while clutching the knee, and it looked … very bad.

Potential season-altering injury. Just brutal.

Immediately after that delay, Kershaw struck out Vinny Capra for strikeout #3000 and completed his outing: 6 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 100 Pitches. He had 15 two-strike counts in the game, which provided a rollercoaster even for those just watching for that.

Kershaw is now one of 20 men with 3000 strikeouts, and only four of those are lefties, with only three having done it with one club. Ridiculous.

Refocusing for a bit as the game was obviously still going on.

Taking over for Kershaw in the 7th was Lou Trivino, who got a clean frame on 13 pitches. Alex Vesia worked around a walk in the 8th for a scoreless inning, and Will Klein got a scoreless 9th to close the book on the White Sox.

Didn’t seem consequential at the time, but it ended up being three important innings.

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On the other side, the Dodgers put their runs on the board through a pair of solo homers, as Will Smith smacked his 11th of the year in the 1st…

…and Andy Pages hit his 17th of the year in the 2nd.

They then went quiet in the 3rd and 4th, and couldn’t cash in the chances they did have after that for a long while. They stranded an infield single and steal in the 5th, a HBP and single with nobody out in the 6th, and two singles with an out between in the 7th.

The 8th was just quiet, but the 9th was anything but. Michael Conforto started a rally by bouncing a single through the right side, then back-to-back walks to Tommy Edman and Kim loaded the bases. That brought up Ohtani, but he grounded to second and narrowly avoided a double play, trading a run for an out. Struggling Mookie Betts then came up and drove the first pitch for a sac fly to tie things up at 4-4.

After Ohtani stole second, Smith then worked a (contentious) walk to put a pair on, and Freddie Freeman smoked the first pitch he saw into right for a walk-off 5-4 win to complete a magical yet weird night.

As mentioned, there was a lot dedicated to the 3000 strikeouts.

@dodgers This is how you take out the pitching rubber. 👀 #dodgers #sports #losangeles ♬ original sound – Los Angeles Dodgers

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NL WestRecordGB
Dodgers55-32–
Padres46-408.5
Giants46-419.0

The series concludes tomorrow at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Dustin May looking to get something going against Aaron Civale.

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