Clayton Kershaw Nearly Perfect In Tossing No Hitter

It's something that most pitchers dream about. Pitching a no-hitter in a Major League Baseball game. Heading into last night, there had been a total of 283 such games thrown by Major League pitchers. You can now add another name to that list: Clayton Kershaw. From an individual standpoint, the 26 year old Kershaw has accomplished a lot during his seven year big league career. To his credit, Kershaw has a pair of Cy Young Awards, three straight major league ERA titles, a 20-win season, and now you can throw in a no-hitter.

Kershaw dominated the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night, striking out a career-high 15 and allowing his only baserunner on a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez in Los Angeles' 8-0 victory. It is very safe to say that Kershaw was in a bigtime groove last night in Chavez Ravine. All this coming from a guy who missed more than six weeks early this year because of a strained muscle in his upper back, after beating Arizona in the season opener during the Dodgers' two-game trip to Australia. I think, with his performance tonight, Kershaw may have silenced any doubt that he is the best pitcher in the game today. I know Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees and Mark Buehrle may have better numbers than Kershaw at the moment, but on the whole I still contend he is the very best in the business at what he does. To make this feet even more impressive, look at what Kershaw was able to shut down. Coming into the game last night, Colorado was leading the majors in batting average, hits, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. They were first in the National League in runs and homers. The fact that Kershaw was nearly perfect against THAT lineup, speaks volumes. It shows just how much of a groove he was in on this night.

This no-hitter by Kershaw is the 2nd one that's been thrown in the big leagues this year. The other was tossed by his Dodgers teammate Josh Beckett on May 25th, a 6-0 win over the Phillies on the road. Kershaw's 15 strikeouts last night tied him for 3rd most in a no-hitter. Here's the list of top strikeout performances in a no-hitter (from Elias Sports Bureau):

Nolan Ryan 17 1973
Nolan Ryan 16 1991
Clayton Kershaw 15 2014
Nolan Ryan 15 1974
Don Wilson 15 1967
Warren Spahn 15 1960

When you think about it, that's some pretty elite company to keep. Also, Kershaw's gem last night marked just the 3rd time ever that a reigning Cy-Young award winner had thrown a no-hitter. Along with kersahw last night, the other two to do it were Bob Gibson with the Cardinals in 1971 and Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers in 1964. This marks the 22nd no-hitter in Dodgers history and the first at home since Ramon Martinez's 2-0 gem against the Marlins on July 14, 1995. The last time the Rockies were held hitless, it was by Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo on Sept. 17, 1996. The only other no-hitter against Colorado was pitched by Al Leiter of the Marlins in May 1996.

So congratulations are in order to Clayton Kershaw on his brilliant No-Hitter!