Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw beats Padres in first career scoreless game

SAN DIEGO — Clayton Kershaw has played in 423 regular-season games and recorded at least one strikeout in each, a span that began with his introduction to the major leagues, spanned his career as the sport’s most dominant pitcher and continued through a persistent injury.

On Wednesday night, in his second appearance since undergoing arm surgery, Kershaw’s career finally came to an end.

In a game against the San Diego Padres, the team with the highest contact rate in the major leagues, Kershaw struck out 11 batters, allowed seven runs and struck out no batters, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-1 loss at Petco Park.

“I was missing a lot of things,” Kershaw said. “I wasn’t executing what I wanted to, I wasn’t throwing anything the way I wanted to. It was just frustrating overall.”

According to research by ESPN Stats & Information, this dates back to 1893, the year the mound was moved to its current location, and no pitcher has ever started a regular season with more strikeouts than Kershaw. The two players right behind him — Tom Seaver with 411 strikeouts and Nolan Ryan with 382 — are legends. Kershaw’s only other regular-season game without a strikeout was on Sept. 28, 2008, against the New York Giants, but that was in a substitute appearance.

Kershaw’s long winning streak is a testament to his excellence. And perhaps the end of it is a sign of his current state, as he recovers from shoulder surgery and plays in his 36th season.

The Padres, who have won nine of 11 games since the All-Star break, scored four runs in the second inning and three more in the fourth. Kershaw scored just three earned runs. But some of that was the result of a rare error by Kershaw himself, when he mishandled a soft pitch that could have led to an easy home run. The Padres struck out 41 batters against Kershaw and gave up only two — a 4.9 percent strikeout rate, the lowest of any Kershaw game, including the playoffs.

“I feel good physically,” Kershaw said. “Honestly, I felt good the last round in general. But this round was definitely pretty bad.”

Kershaw threw a fastball hovering around 90 mph, which is unnatural for him at this point, and a curveball that lacked bite, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Roberts pointed to what in the grand scheme of things looked like an insignificant sequence, when Jurickson Profar drove a curveball into right-center field in the second inning by lifting a curveball below the strike zone.

“You don’t see them get under the slider and really lift it up like they did tonight,” Roberts said. “That’s indicative of the slider’s teeth tonight.”

The Dodgers have lost back-to-back games to the Padres but are also far from done. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, two of their top three hitters, are not with the team. Chris Taylor and Miguel Rojas are on the injured list. The three position players they added before the trade deadline — Tommy Edman, Amed Rosario and Kevin Kiermaier — are not in the lineup. Still, the Padres have beaten them seven of 10 times in 2024, clinching the season series for the first time in more than a decade. The Dodgers still hold a 4½-game lead in the National League West, but they finished July with an 11-13 record.

“We’re going to get through this. There’s no doubt about it. We’re the Dodgers. We’re the best team in baseball,” said Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Will Smith.

To be considered the ultimate champions’ franchise, the Dodgers need a lineup that can carry them through October. The addition of Jack Flaherty, who could form a strong duo with Tyler Glasnow, would certainly help. But the Dodgers face uncertainty regarding both players. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is working to recover from a torn rotator cuff and has yet to get off the mound; Walker Buehler has struggled after his second Tommy John surgery and is still working on his hip; and Bobby Miller was hit hard in his return from a shoulder injury, which prompted him to be traded to the minor leagues.

If Kershaw’s quality was reflected in his lack of errant passes on Wednesday, that, too, is a concern.

“I just need to improve my game,” Kershaw said. “It happens sometimes. There’s a lot of things you can overanalyze when you don’t play well. But right now I’m just going to say I played poorly and try to do better next time.”