Clayton Kershaw day by day: A pair of 10-strikeout games

Welcome back to the Clayton Kershaw daily, where we look back at every single game of Clayton Kershaw’s career, on the anniversary date of when they happened. Kershaw has started twice on May 29, both with 10 strikeouts.

In 2011 the Dodgers hosted the Marlins on May 29, and Kershaw had two hits, drove in a run, and scored twice.

Kershaw also pitched his second career shutout, whiffing 10. From my game recap:

Kershaw didn’t allow many hard hit balls, and only gave up two hits. One was a fly ball single to left in the third inning by Omar Infante, and the other was a pop fly by Logan Morrison in the seventh that went through the Jay Gibbons Experience™, which is to say Gibbons turned the wrong way then watched the ball drop for a “double.” Kershaw also walked one and struck out 10 batters, the 10th time he has achieved double-digit strikeouts in his career.

Kershaw’s two hits while batting did not negate his two hits allowed, so we can’t credit him with a no-hitter here. But he settled for the win.

Five years later the Dodgers were at Citi Field to face the Mets on May 29, against Bartolo Colon on ESPN ‘Sunday Night Baseball.’

This was a close game into the eighth, with only an Asdrubal Cabrera home run charged to Kershaw’s ledger. He allowed a single in the eighth, then was pulled with two outs and a 2-1 lead, only to see that advantage surrendered on a Curtis Granderson triple against Adam Liberatore.

Kershaw would be named the NL Pitcher of the Month for May, the last time to date he has won that award. From my game recap:

Kershaw had to settle for the no-decision but still ended one of his finest months strong. He struck out 10 in 7⅔ innings, allowing just four hits with no walks. He allowed two runs on the night, giving him a whopping five runs allowed in six starts in May for a 0.96 ERA during the month.

To sum up, Kershaw in his two May 29 starts allowed two runs, and scored two runs himself.

The outings

2011 (W, 6-3): 9 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts

2016: 7⅔ IP, 4 hits, 2 runs, 10 strikeouts

Up next: Three starts on May 30, quite the struggle