Clayton Kershaw is first pitcher in Dodgers history with seven 200-strikeout seasons

Clayton Kershaw made history on Sunday afternoon against the Giants. His strikeout of Gorkys Hernandez in the eighth inning was the 200th of the season for the Dodgers ace, making him the first pitcher in franchise history with seven seasons of 200 strikeouts.

Entering the season, Kershaw was tied with franchise legends Sandy Koufax (1961-66) and Don Drysdale (1959-60, 1962-65) as the only pitchers in Dodgers history with six years of 200 or more strikeouts.

The Dodgers' left-hander averaged 233 strikeouts per season from 2010-2016, and has led the National League in strikeouts three times in the last six seasons, including a major-league-best 301 punchouts in 2015, the first 300-strikeout season in the majors since 2002.

Kershaw currently ranks seventh in the National League with his 200 strikeouts, despite missing five weeks with a lower back strain.

He struck out six in eight innings on Sunday, allowing one run on eight hits.

Two of the times Kershaw didn't lead the league in strikeouts in the last six seasons, he trailed the leader by one strikeout (R.A. Dickey, 2012) and three strikeouts (Stephen Strasburg and Johnny Cueto, 2014). In 2016, Kershaw led the majors in strikeouts in June when he suffered a back injury that forced him to miss 10 weeks. He ended last season with 172 strikeouts in just 149 innings.

Kershaw reached the 2,000-strikeout milestone earlier this season, on June 2 in Milwaukee, the fifth-youngest pitcher in MLB history to do so. His 2,118 career strikeouts ranks fourth in Dodgers franchise history, trailing Hall of Fame pitchers Don Sutton (2,696 strikeouts), Don Drysdale (2,486) and Sandy Koufax (2,396).

Since the start of 2010, Kershaw’s 1,833 strikeouts are the second-most in the majors, trailing only the 1,904 strikeouts by Max Scherzer.