OTD: Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter
by Rowan Kavner
With two Cy Young Awards already under his belt as he worked on a third, the question was less if Clayton Kershaw would throw a no-hitter during one of the all-time great Major League pitching careers and more when.
The answer came emphatically on June 18, 2014 — to the dismay of a group of Rockies batters who found themselves vulnerably at the wrong end of history — when Kershaw became the first pitcher ever to strike out 15 batters without a walk in a no-hitter.
“As far as individual games go, this is pretty special,” Kershaw said afterward. “I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, they’ve recorded 13 no-hitters. Kershaw’s 15 strikeouts remain the most ever by a single pitcher in a Dodger no-hitter.
By game score — which measures a pitcher’s performance, with 50 being average — Kershaw’s off-the-charts mark of 102 from that masterpiece is the best ever by a Dodger pitcher in a no-hitter. It’s also the second best game score from any no-hitter in Major League history, trailing only the 104 mark of Max Scherzer, who followed Kershaw when he became the second pitcher to accumulate at least 15 strikeouts without a walk in his no-hitter a year later.
Kershaw is one of nine LA Dodger pitchers to toss an individual no-hitter (Sandy Koufax has the first four, and in 2018 the Dodgers recorded their first combined no-hitter). Kershaw said in the immediate aftermath he didn’t take for granted the history or what it meant, calling it “special company” that he joined.
He came close to joining an even more elite group.
Koufax is the only Dodger pitcher to throw a perfect game. Through six innings the night of June 18, 2014, that feat remained intact for Kershaw.
Opposing starter Jorge De La Rosa didn’t make it through the fourth inning, as the Dodgers staked Kershaw an early eight-run advantage. Kershaw, meanwhile, seemed to gain steam as the night progressed, striking out the side in the sixth inning. But the perfect game crumbled to start the seventh, through no fault of Kershaw’s, when Corey Dickerson reached on a throwing error from shortstop Hanley Ramirez.
Soon after, the no-hitter nearly ended as well when a chopper down the third-base line from Troy Tulowitzki sent third baseman Miguel Rojas past the dirt at third. But Rojas, not quite two weeks into his Major League career, stabbed it cleanly and made the challenging throw across the diamond to first baseman Adrián González, who picked it just in time to finish off the play.
Kershaw would strand Dickerson, unflinchingly retiring each of the next eight batters he faced before seeing Dickerson again with two outs in the ninth. This time, on his 107th pitch of the night, Kershaw got the lefty swinging to finish off the no-hitter.
Kershaw threw both his arms in the air before embracing catcher A.J. Ellis. The rest of his teammates followed soon after to celebrate the historic 8–0 win.
It was not the only time Kershaw came close to a no-hitter in his career. On five other occasions, the eight-time All-Star has gone at least seven innings with only one hit allowed. A year after his MVP 2014 season, Kershaw one-hit the Giants in another complete game 8–0 win.
But the performance on June 18, 2014, remains the only no-hitter of Kershaw’s career and a night he’ll never forget.
“To get to do it at home, it’s even better,” Kershaw said in front of a Dodger crowd who stuck around to hear what the Gatorade-soaked ace had to say. “This is amazing.”
