LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani had his longest start and most strikeouts since joining the Dodgers, but he was not alone in getting swing-and-miss from the Reds on Wednesday night. Five Dodgers pitchers combined to strike out 19 batters, the most in franchise history in a nine-inning game.
After Ohtani fanned nine in his five innings, Jack Dreyer struck out two in the sixth, Justin Wrobleski loaded the bases but struck out two in the seventh, Edgardo Henriquez struck out three in the eighth, and Blake
Treinen worked around a hit and walk to strike out three more to close out the win, the fourth straight for the Dodgers.
“That’s a big number, and speaks to what our guys can do and the talent we have, the swing and miss,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Really good performance.”
It helps that the Dodgers rotation is at full strength, six deep at the moment and with Ohtani stretched out to five innings. The pitching staff as a whole ranks second in the majors with a 25.7-percent strikeout rate for August, their best month of the season. The only month closer was the amalgamation of March and April, when the Dodgers were at their previous healthiest; but even then they didn’t yet have Ohtani.
Dodgers pitching strikeout rates by month
- April: 25.4 percent (3rd)
- May: 23.2 percent (9th)
- June: 20.2 percent (24th)
- July: 23.4 percent (10th)
- August: 25.7 percent (2nd)
Against the Reds, Dodgers pitchers struck out 42 batters in three games, a tidy 39.6-percent strikeout rate. There were double-digit strikeouts in each game, with 19 the record-setting effort on Wednesday.
The Dodgers struck out 18 batters in a nine-inning game five times, with the last coming on May 15, 2015 against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Unsurprisingly, Clayton Kershaw was involved, with 10 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings in that win, the 100th of his career.
There were also five 18-strikeout extra-inning games for the Dodgers, including in a 1-0 win over the Expos on August 23, 1989, one of two 22-inning games that season for the Dodgers and a game more famous for Tommy Lasorda getting the mascot Youppi! ejected in Montreal.
Before Wednesday, Dodgers pitchers struck out 19 or more in extra innings five times. In only one them they got to 19 strikeouts within the first nine innings.
On June 2, 2017, Kershaw reached another milestone with his 2,000th strikeout, the fifth-youngest pitcher in major league history to get to 2,000. He got to 2,000 in the second inning that night against the Brewers in Milwaukee, but then added 10 more to his total.
Kershaw that night struck out 14 in seven innings, and Pedro Báez followed with five strikeouts in two innings. But the game was a 1-1 tie, thanks to stellar mound work on the other side from future old friends Jimmy Nelson (11 strikeouts in eight innings) and Corey Knebel (two strikeouts in the ninth). In extra innings, Grant Dayton struck out all three batters he faced in the 10th, then Kenley Jansen got the win with four strikeouts in two scoreless innings.
Twenty-six strikeouts by the Dodgers that night matched the major league record, done five times. All of those games were extra innings, with the 12 innings by the Dodgers two fewer than any other 26-strikeout game.
With 19 strikeouts on Wednesday, the Dodgers matched the major league season high. The Blue Jays (April 16), Braves (June 14), and Astros (July 28) also got to 19 strikeouts in nine innings, and the Astros (twice) and Nationals also got there in extra-inning games this year.
