It was the strikeouts.
For nearly the entire night, Colorado’s hitters simply could not find the ball.
Right or wrong, when I imagined Clayton Kershaw throwing a no-hitter — and how often, how very often I imagined it — I imagined he’s get his seven or eight strikeouts, but the majority of the outs would be of efficient dispatch. Lots of first-pitch groundouts.
Instead, the strikeouts came by the bushel, so much so that with four outs remaining in the game, Kershaw had a chance to tie the franchise record of 18 strikeouts in a game, held by Sandy Koufax and Ramon Martinez.
Kershaw did break one record of some obscurity but significance nevertheless. His Game Score of 102 was the highest in Dodger history, higher even than Koufax during his 14-strikeout perfect game, and a concise testimony to his dominance. Only Kerry Wood, in his 20-strikeout game, had a higher Game Score.
He was the first player ever to strike out at least 15 without allowing a hit or walk.
And the 26-year-old lefty finished it off on only 107 pitches. There were nine groundouts, and only three balls in the air all night. I counted only one three-ball count for Kershaw tonight, to Josh Rutledge in the second inning.
Clayton Kershaw was walking on the sun.