Chicago White Sox are 5-21 in 1-run games after walk-off loss — and a historic night for Clayton Kershaw

Chicago Tribune

15 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw began Wednesday needing three strikeouts to become the 20th pitcher in major league history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts.
Fans stood on a few occasions when the Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander got to two strikes on a Chicago White Sox batter.
The Sox made him work to his 100th — and final — pitch of the evening to get to the milestone. Kershaw struck out Vinny Capra looking on a slider to end the sixth inning for No. 3,000.
'Honestly, didn't pitch that great tonight, and the slider was so bad,' Kershaw told reporters covering the Dodgers. 'But this was a such a special night all the way around. It really was. Couldn't have asked for anything more. It was so fun to get to be out there.
'It's an incredible list. I'm super grateful to be a part of it.'
It was a historical night for Kershaw, but for most of the evening, the Sox were in position to spoil the party.
That is, until the ninth when the Dodgers scored three runs to rally and beat the Sox 5-4 in front of a sellout crowd of 53,536 at Dodger Stadium.
'We were in a good spot there, had our guy (Grant Taylor) on the mound and just kind of ran out of gas there,' manager Will Venable said. 'It's a tough way to end it, but some really good stuff out there. Offensively, the guys did a good job grinding. Just wasn't able to finish it off.'
The Sox held a 4-2 lead going into the ninth thanks to strong pitching from Sean Burke and clutch hitting from Austin Slater.
Taylor pitched a perfect eighth, striking out two. He returned for the ninth and allowed a single and two walks to load the bases for Shohei Ohtani, who grounded into a fielder's choice. A run scored in the sequence, cutting the Sox's lead to 4-3.
'It's a big ask to have him come out there a second time,' Venable said. 'We've asked him to do that before and he was able to do it. That was just a big ask and obviously wasn't able to command the ball there.'
Chicago baseball report: Cubs make the All-Star case for Seiya Suzuki — and White Sox get a viral stolen baseSteven Wilson replaced Taylor, and Mookie Betts tied the score on a sacrifice fly to left. Ohtani stole second base and Will Smith walked, bringing Freddie Freeman to the plate with runners on first and second. Freeman lined a first-pitch sweeper to right to bring in Ohtani with the game-winning run.
The Sox (28-58) fell to 5-21 in one-run games.
When the night began, the focus was on Kershaw.
The Sox got to him early as Slater tripled and scored on a single by Andrew Benintendi in the first inning. Slater hit a two-run home run in the third to give the Sox a 3-2 lead. Edgar Quero also had an RBI single in the inning, one of three hits on the night for the catcher.
'We made an adjustment right away and made him work and come back into the zone,' Slater said.
Kershaw allowed four runs on nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
'Give the White Sox credit,' Kershaw said. 'They didn't make it easy on me at all.'
After surrendering the home run to Slater, Kershaw struck out Miguel Vargas swinging on a curveball in the third inning. He struck out Lenyn Sosa swinging on a curveball to end the fifth.
Kershaw received a huge ovation as he returned to the mound for the sixth. Mike Tauchman grounded out to first. But then Michael A. Taylor doubled.
Taylor attempted to steal third on the first pitch to Capra, a called strike, but was thrown out. He collided with third baseman Max Muncy and both players left the game. Taylor exited with a left trap contusion. The Sox said he's day-to-day. The Dodgers announced Muncy left with left knee pain.
When the game resumed, Kershaw threw a curveball out of the zone for a ball before getting a swinging strike on a slider. He went back to the slider and got the called third strike.
'He's done it for a long time,' Capra said. 'He's a really good pitcher, made a really good pitch, and it's 3,000. That's an incredible moment for him.
'I didn't expect that backdoor slider to kind of come back. He made a really good pitch.'
Kershaw walked near the home dugout as fans gave him a standing ovation. He tipped his cap to the crowd and was greeted by teammates.
'I told my teammates individual awards are great, but if you don't have anybody to celebrate with, it just doesn't matter,' Kershaw said. 'And to have that room full of guys, coaches, strength staff, training staff, front office, everybody just really be happy for me was just awesome. And they were in it with me. It was an amazing night.'
A video tribute followed. Kershaw then returned from the dugout for a curtain call.
'The fans tonight, it really meant a lot,' Kershaw said.
After the festivities, Burke found ways to work around trouble in the sixth and seventh innings to cap an impressive outing. The right-hander allowed one run on six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in six dazzling innings. He entered in the second inning, following opener Brandon Eisert.
'This is a tough lineup to face,' Burke said. 'I feel like you can't really try to beat them over and over with the same stuff. We tried to mix some things up, give them different looks. We get them out one way one time and the next at-bat take a different route to get there.'
The Dodgers were down, but not out. They displayed their championship grit while rallying in the ninth.
'It was tough last inning,' Quero said. 'But it's part of baseball. We are going to come back tomorrow and try to get the 'W.''