We "downgraded" his five-inning complete game in a manner analogous to what the keepers of the record books did to no-hitters that had less than nine innings.
So the Dodgers' uber-ace went out last night (6/18) and tossed a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies.In the process, Kershaw struck out 15 and missed a perfect game only because SS Hanley Ramirez threw off-line to first, pulling Adrian Gonzalez off the base, allowing Corey Dickerson to reach on an error in the seventh inning.
The Dodgers won, 8-0, pulling within four games of the San Francisco Giants.
Kershaw has upped his K-rate significantly thus far in '14. After last night's game, his K rate has risen to just a bit more than twelve per nine innings.
Elsewhere, John Lackey pitched nine shutout innings for the Boston Red Sox--but did not get a complete game. (The Sox won the game in the bottom of the tenth, on consecutive homers from David Ortiz and the recently activated Mike Napoli, after giving up the lead in the top of the inning on a homer by the Minnesota Twins' Chris Parmalee.)
This was the second time in 2014 that a pitcher went nine innings but didn't wind up with a complete game; the first occurred on May 5th, when the Cubs' Jeff Samardzija did it. It happened only three times in 2013 and 2012.
