The all-time Dodger single-season strikeout leaderboard
By Jon Weisman
With one out remaining, the Dodger Stadium crowd stood at a full-throated roar of joy and awe.
And then held its breath, as Clayton Kershaw battled almost as never before.
Twice a strike away from a complete game, Kershaw allowed singles to Matt Duffy and Buster Posey. With the pitch count at 127, Don Mattingly came to the mound. About 15 seconds later, Mattingly went back to the dugout, alone.
Marlon Byrd stood in, and after two more pitches, Kershaw was again one strike away.
Then ball one. Then ball two.
Then, on his 132nd pitch of the game, tying his career high, a swing and a miss at an 89 mph slider. A glorious swing and miss.
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Kershaw struck out 15 in carrying the Dodgers’ to a 2-1 victory over San Francisco tonight, setting a career high for a season at 251 (breaking his old mark of 248), and giving Los Angeles the highest total of strikeouts for a year for a Dodger pitcher since Sandy Koufax struck out 317 in 1966.
The 15 whiffs also tied a career high for a single game, originally set at his June 18, 2014 no-hitter.
This all came in another pressure-packed Dodgers-Giants game — the third-straight one-run win for the Dodgers, propelling them to 6 1/2 games ahead in the National League West. After Angel Pagan’s RBI single in the top of the sixth tied the game, Chase Utley hit his first Dodger homer to put Los Angeles back in front.
Kershaw lowered his ERA to 2.18, third in the big leagues. Since May 26, Kershaw has a 1.26 ERA with 178 strikeouts in 135 2/3 innings. In his past 750 innings, his ERA is 1.98.
In his past three games, Kershaw has struck out 39 batters, averaging 14.04 strikeouts per nine innings.
Kershaw paved the way for his complete game by averaging barely 12 pitches per inning for the first seven frames. He began the ninth at 107 pitches.
“It was a tough one with him,” Don Mattingly said. “His stuff was really good. Still crisp, we thought. He felt good. We felt like if there was any game we were going to let him go back out there, with Kenley and a few guys were basically down — Kenley was not available tonight — it was just a game that you felt like you were going to let him go for it. And that was it.”
When Mattingly visited the mound, he intended to leave Kershaw in the game as long as he was OK. He said he occasionally took him out early in games this year in order to save bullets for games like this.
Said Mattingly: “Utley told me, ‘You made a good decision by not taking me out.’ I was gonna get hurt.”
Kershaw wasn’t thinking about strikeouts in the ninth inning.
“I was just trying to get an out,” Kershaw said. “Those guys are great hitters, obviously. Duffy’s having a great year, and Posey’s Posey. Some good at-bats all night. They made me work that last inning, and I was fortunate to get one more out.”
Mike Bolsinger will make a spot start Friday, giving Kershaw and other Dodger starters an extra day of rest.
