strikeout

NEW YORK — Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered in the second inning to end New York’s 30-inning scoreless streak, but an error in the eighth inning gave the Angels a 3-2 win, sending the Yankees to their sixth straight loss Wednesday.

Mike Trout and Taylor Ward opened the eighth by drawing walks off Fernando Cruz (1-3), and Luis Rengifo walked on four pitches to load the bases. Jo Adell hit a 105.9-mph grounder to New York shortstop Anthony Volpe, who bobbled the ball and threw wide of second, allowing Trout to score.

The Yankees lost for the eighth time in 18 games, and their losing streak is the longest since they lost nine straight from Aug. 12-23, 2023.

Chisholm ended New York’s longest run-scoring drought since a 33-inning skid Sept. 22-25, 2016, when his drive down the right field line stayed inside the foul pole and tied the game at 1.

Cody Bellinger homered to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the fourth before Adell hit a tying homer on the first pitch of the fifth off Ryan Yarbrough. Bellinger made the final out of the eighth by fouling out with two on.

Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts as his average dipped to .366.

Nolan Schanuel homered three pitches into the game for the Angels, who won a fifth straight game at Yankee Stadium — the old or new version — for the first time in team history.

Jack Kochanowicz gave up two runs and two hits in 5⅔ innings. The right-hander finished with a career-high eight strikeouts and walked three.

Kenley Jansen struck out Volpe to secure his 15th save.

Key moments: Giancarlo Stanton batted for Ben Rice in the seventh and flew out to left field against Hector Neris (3-1). In the sixth, Bellinger hit an infield single, but Trent Grisham was called out at second when his leg touched the ball. Paul Goldschmidt lined out on the next pitch.

Key stat: Stanton is five for 47 in his career as a pinch-hitter.

Up next: Yankees LHP Carlos Rodón (8-5, 3.01 ERA) opposes Angels LHP Tyler Anderson (2-4, 3.44) on Thursday.

George Kirby struck out a career-high 14 during seven innings of two-hit ball, and the Seattle Mariners snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Angels on Sunday.

Kirby (1-3) issued no walks while retiring both his first 11 and his final 10 batters. His strikeouts were the most by a Mariners pitcher since James Paxton had 16 in May 2018, and he matched Miami’s Max Meyer for the most strikeouts in a major league game this season.

Donovan Solano drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth, and Randy Arozarena had an early RBI double among his three hits as the Mariners avoided a series sweep with their fourth win in 14 games.

Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Halos, who struck out 18 times overall while losing for only the second time in six games.

Andrés Muñoz earned his 18th save, returning from a week off and rebounding from back-to-back blown save opportunities in which he allowed his first earned runs of the entire season.

Muñoz walked Jorge Soler leading off the ninth, but struck out Mike Trout to end it.

Tyler Anderson (2-3) yielded eight hits with six strikeouts while pitching into the fifth inning of his ninth consecutive winless appearance.

Arozarena hit a 345-foot single in the fifth when he failed to hustle out of the box, but he stole second and scored on Jorge Polanco’s two-out single. Solano added another RBI single to chase Anderson.

Key moment: Trout was the Angels’ first baserunner with a two-out single, and Ward immediately followed with his 18th homer. Kirby regrouped and struck out Chris Taylor with a perfect slider on the corner.

Key stat: Trout tied Rafael Palmeiro’s major league record of 435 total bases against Seattle before scoring his 145th run against the Mariners to tie Rickey Henderson for that career record.

Up next: Yusei Kikuchi (1-5, 3.23 ERA) takes the Big A mound Monday night against the Athletics. Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.19) pitches for the Mariners at Arizona.

Before anything, Clayton Kershaw has to believe. Before he can snap off curveballs the way he used to, before he can be a dependable member of the rotation instead of last resort, he has to believe.

Clayton Kershaw believes.

Never mind the mounting evidence to the contrary — the 5.17 earned-run average through his four starts this season, the two starts that weren’t interrupted by rain in which he failed to complete five innings, the unremarkable high-80s-to-low-90s fastball, the career-low strikeout rate.

Kershaw believes he can once again be a contributor on a championship team.

“I just need to put it together for a whole game,” Kershaw said, “which I think I can do and will do.”

Who’s to say otherwise?

He’s looked finished before, and he wasn’t. Even with diminished stuff, he’s found ways to get hitters out, so why should this time be any different?

“I’m gonna bet on him,” manager Dave Roberts said.

For now, at least, Roberts doesn’t have a choice. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell remain sidelined. So is Roki Sasaki.

The next man up would be Bobby Miller, who lasted only three innings in his only major league start this season.

In reality, Kershaw also doesn’t have a choice other than to believe. What’s the alternative?

In the wake of a 10-inning, 6-5 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night in which he pitched just 4 ⅔ innings, Kershaw’s rhetoric and demeanor were remarkably upbeat. He pointed to his recovery from the knee and foot surgeries he underwent over the winter, as well as his shoulder operation from the previous offseason.

“I mean, physically, I feel great,” he said. “I don’t feel old. My arm feels good. There’s not really any excuses. It’s just pitch better, pitch like you’re capable of. I think the stuff’s there. The stuff’s there to get people out.”

Kershaw was charged with five runs, three of them earned. He gave up six hits and three walks.

“It’s kind of in and out for me,” he said. “I think I’ll go on a stretch of making, like, 10 or 11 good pitches in a row and then just make enough bad ones to get some damage done against me.”

In Roberts’ view, his trademark slider lacked “teethiness.” More problematic was his curveball, which was particularly erratic.

“Can’t just be a two-pitch guy out there, so definitely need to throw my curveball better, for sure,” Kershaw said.

The absence of the curveball prevented Kershaw from putting away batters. He had 14 batters into two-strike counts but managed only two strikeouts while giving up four hits and a walk.

“I know he’s frustrated because he’s getting count leverage with guys and can’t put them away by way of strikeout,” Roberts said. “He’s competing his tail off, but it just hasn’t been as easy as it has been for him prior to this little stretch.”

In Kershaw’s defense, he was let down by, well, his defense.

In the Mets’ two-run five inning, Max Muncy allowed a potential inning-ending double play grounder to skip through his legs. Later, Brandon Nimmo reached base on a train wreck of a defensive play by the Dodgers, allowing the Mets to score and take a 5-4 lead.

Kershaw is 37 now, with more than 3,000 innings pitched in professional baseball. He won’t win another Cy Young Award, and he knows that. The Dodgers know that too, and that’s not what they’re asking of him. What they’re counting on him to do is to take the mound every six or seven days and keep them in games, perhaps take down six or seven innings on occasion to relieve their overworked bullpen.

“I think he’s going to approach each start to give us a chance to win,” Roberts said. “And I don’t know what that looks like each start, but I think that that’s a starting point, and then from that point, as a game goes on, then I’m gonna have to make decisions on what we have behind him.”

Kershaw made an All-Star team just two years ago and started one the year before that. His stuff was almost as diminished then as it is now. He should be able to pitch like that again, and he’s taken a small but critical first step toward doing that. He believes he can.

There was rain, lightning and some comedic reactions for the strange June weather Tuesday that disrupted the opening day of the Southern California regional baseball and softball playoffs.

“Is it raining in June?” asked a stunned El Camino Real baseball player as a downpour fell in Woodland Hills before a Division 2 game against Point Loma. Two fans used artificial turf to shield their heads during a drizzle.

The Division 1 baseball game between Patrick Henry and host Santa Margarita was halted in the fourth inning with Patrick Henry leading 2-0 because of lightning. It will resume Wednesday. The Division 1 softball game between Poway and Ayala was postponed because of rain.

Most games eventually were played and finished.

Point Loma 6, El Camino Real 4: Trailing 6-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, the City Section Open Division champions gave Point Loma a scare, scoring three runs and having the bases loaded with two out until Hunter Weller ended the game with a strikeout in a Division 2 opener. Point Loma is the Division I champion from the San Diego Section.

Druw Frost had three hits. A three-run seventh aided by an El Camino Real error helped the Pointers. Phoenix Brant struck out five in 6 1/3 innings. RJ De La Rosa, JJ Saffie and Gavin Farley had RBI singles in the seventh for El Camino Real.

St. John Bosco 2, St. Augustine 1: Jack Champlin picked up the save after strong pitching from Griffin Tagliaferri and Brayden Krakowski. Moise Razo gave the Braves the lead in the third with an RBI double. St. John Bosco will host Villa Park on Thursday in the Division I semifinals.

Villa Park 5, Granite Hills 4: It took nine innings for Villa Park to prevail on the road. Nate Lewis had four hits and three RBIs, including the tiebreaker in the top of the ninth.

Crespi 4, Mater Dei 3: Mikey Martinez hit a three-run home run and Jackson Eisenhauer threw two hits of shutout relief with four strikeouts. Crespi will play the winner of Santa Margarita-Patrick Henry on Thursday.

University City 5, Birmingham 2: The Patriots gave up four runs in the seventh to fall in a Division III opener. University City will play Dos Pueblos, a 10-2 winner over St. Anthony.

Venice 5, Trinity Classical 2: Canon King had a double and triple and Daniel Quiroz added two hits and two RBIs for Venice, which will play at Mt. Carmel on Thursday.

Banning 3, Lemoore 2: The Pilots won their Division IV opener. Angelo Duarte had a walk-off single in the seventh. AJ Herrera had two hits and two RBIs.

Softball

Westlake 5, Rancho Bernardo 3: The Warriors won in Division II and will host Eastlake in the semifinals. Olivia White had a home run.

Legacy 5, Elsinore 4: Isabella Medina had two doubles in the Division III win. Breann Lipold hit two home runs for Elsinore. Legacy will play at St. Bonaventure, a 6-5 win over Southwest EC.

When is the “fastest” something of a slow roll?

How about last week when pitcher Chris Sale was crowned the fastest to reach 2,500 career strikeouts?

Not to diminish Sale’s accomplishment: It took him fewer innings (2,026) to record No. 2,500 than any other pitcher in history. But because of injuries and a reduced workload — both huge, flashing signs of the times — he didn’t achieve the feat until his 16th season.

Sale was appropriately humble, telling reporters, “I appreciate it for what it is, but I try not to get too caught up in stuff like that right now.”

Perhaps he realizes it took others far less time to reach the 2,500 milestone, including the top two strikeout artists of all time: Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.

Strikeouts are a single lens in viewing the substantive changes over the last 100-plus years in how pitchers are utilized, record outs and withstand the burden. But they can be an instructive one.

Catch a whiff of this: A certain Dodger currently on the injured list strikes out more batters per nine innings than any other pitcher in baseball history, which in effect is another way to express Sale’s “fastest” title.

Blake Snell averages a record 11.1679 strikeouts per nine innings, edging out Sale, who is second all-time at 11.1056 among pitchers who average at least one inning per team game.

The believe-it-or-not distinction might explain why the Dodgers gave Snell a five-year, $182-million free agent contract last offseason. His wicked stuff that features a 96 mph four-seam fastball also could help explain why he’s on the injured list for the eighth time in the last eight seasons, this time out since April 6 with left shoulder inflammation.

Snell is the epitome of a highly valued starter in today’s game: He accumulates strikeouts at a higher rate than anyone else, gives up fewer hits than anyone else, and elicits only shrugs when someone points out that he has a grand total of one complete game in 213 career starts.

It is revealing that 13 of the top 20 pitchers on the all-time strikeout per innings list are active. The only one who didn’t pitch in the 21st century is Ryan at No. 19, just ahead of another believe-it-or-not name, Lucas Giolito.

Among the 33 pitchers to average more than a strikeout per inning, the only one whose career began in the 1950s has a statue outside Dodger Stadium: Sandy Koufax.

Koufax and Snell are two of 10 Dodgers among the 33, a clue as to what the Dodgers front office values in mound performance. Several of the names are less than luminary.

The others, from bottom to top: Lance Lynn (No. 32; 9.04), Rich Hill (No. 29; 9.12), Andrew Heaney (No. 25; 9.33), Clayton Kershaw (No. 16; 9.72), Trevor Bauer (No. 15; 9.82), Pedro Martinez (No. 12; 10.04), Yu Darvish (No. 7; 10.59) and Max Scherzer (No. 5; 10.65).

Note: Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani averaged a mammoth 11.40 strikeouts per nine innings in six seasons with the Angels but hasn’t pitched enough to qualify for the all-time list. He has recovered from elbow surgery and is expected to return to the mound after the All-Star break for the first time since August 2023.

Sale’s accomplishment, then, is sustaining a near-record rate of strikeouts per nine innings for more than 2,000 innings, certainly worthy of note.

An equally valid definition of “fastest” to reach a strikeout milestone would be how long it took to get there. The pitcher that the 6-foot-6, left-handed Sale surpassed was his boyhood idol: Johnson, a 6-10, left-handed flamethrower who ranks second to Ryan on the career strikeout list with 4,875.

Johnson notched No. 2,500 in inning No. 2,108 — 82 more than it took Sale. But he did so in only his 11th season, five seasons “faster” than Sale.

Incidentally — and incredibly — Johnson was only halfway through his career. He retired in 2009 after 22 seasons with 4,135.1 innings and 303 wins.

Granted, Johnson was an anomaly, the only hurler ever to amass more than 200 innings and 300 strikeouts in multiple seasons well into his 30s. At ages 35-38 from 1999-2002, he averaged a staggering 354 strikeouts and 258 innings a season.

The only comparable hurler was Ryan (record strikeout total: 5,714), who also reached No. 2,500 in his 11th season, the milestone whiff coming in inning No. 2,287 when he struck out Andre Thornton of Cleveland while pitching for the Angels in 1978.

Ryan’s longevity was even more impressive than Johnson’s: 27 seasons from 1966-93, 5,386 innings and 324 wins. No current pitcher will come close to those numbers.

On the other end of the strikeout spectrum are Hall of Fame pitchers from more than 100 years ago who logged vast numbers of innings while striking out far fewer batters per inning. Velocity wasn’t nearly as high or as prized as it is today and pitchers were expected to complete games they started.

Sale ranks No. 40 on the all-time strikeout list, and he next will pass Christy Mathewson, who needed a prodigious 4,788 innings to log 2,507 strikeouts from 1900-16. Mathewson is far down the list of strikeouts per nine innings, checking in at No. 689 with 4.71.

Walter Johnson, the legendary “Big Train” out of Fullerton Union High, is third all-time with 5,914 innings and ninth with 3,509 strikeouts in a career spanning 1907-27. But he averaged just 5.34 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking No. 520, a few notches ahead of the less than legendary former Dodgers swingman Elmer Dessens.

Other fabled names associated with blazing fastballs compiled surprisingly low strikeout rates as well. Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller, for example, sits at 6.07 strikeouts per nine innings.

Kershaw, meanwhile, is on the cusp of reaching a milestone that very nearly guarantees entry into the Hall of Fame: 3,000 strikeouts. The career Dodger in his 18th season has 2,974, and he’s inching toward the finish line, having struck out six in three abbreviated starts since coming off the injured list two weeks ago.

Although Kershaw has consistently downplayed the significance of reaching 3,000, he told Tyler Kepner of the Athletic last week that it’s on his mind.

“Yeah, I’d be lying if I didn’t want to do it,” Kershaw said. “But I think the coolest part is the company you get to be a part of. You know what I mean? There’s just some really special names.”

They include, of course, Ryan and Johnson. Nineteen pitchers have reached the milestone and 17 are in the Hall of Fame, with Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling falling short for reasons that had nothing to do with strikeout totals.

Kershaw is considered a Hall of Fame shoo-in, his earned-run average of 2.51 the lowest of any active pitcher that meets the innings qualification and his 212 career victories an impressive number in today’s game.

Snell’s candidacy falls into the “way too early to tell” category. Yes, he is the only pitcher to win a Cy Young award in each league, and his 3.18 career ERA sparkles. And, of course, striking out more batters per nine innings than anyone else in history stands out on his resume.

Yet Snell is in his 10th season and he has just 77 wins. Hall of Fame starters with the fewest MLB wins are Dizzy Dean (150) and Koufax (165), the careers of both cut short by arm injuries.

Snell’s career should be far from over. He’s only 32 and his lucrative Dodgers contract doesn’t expire until after the 2029 season. But to have a shot at the Hall, Snell must fulfill the promise that prompted the Dodgers to sign him.

The only active pitchers besides Kershaw considered Hall of Fame locks are Justin Verlander and Scherzer, both hard throwers with the requisite strikeout totals.

Verlander, 42, has 3,457 strikeouts while averaging 8.98 per nine innings. He also has 262 wins — 46 more than Scherzer and 50 more than Kershaw, the next two active pitchers on the all-time list. No one else is close to 200.

Scherzer ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.65, trailing only Snell, Sale, Robby Ray (another believe-it-or-not name) and Jacob DeGrom. Scherzer’s career total of 3,408 ranks 11th, just behind Verlander.

Gerrit Cole, 34, appeared on a Hall of Fame track before undergoing Tommy John surgery in March. He won’t pitch again until early next season, putting a long pause on his current totals of 153 wins, 2,251 strikeouts and 10.37 strikeouts per nine innings.

The only recently retired starter who might be rehearsing his Hall induction speech is another former Dodger, Zack Greinke, who posted 225 wins and 2,979 strikeouts along with a 3.49 ERA before retiring in 2024 after 20 seasons.

What about Sale, whose rebound from four years of debilitating injuries to win a Cy Young award with the Atlanta Braves was one of baseball’s best stories of 2024? He finished in the top five of Cy Young voting seven years in a row from 2012-2018, and his 3.04 career ERA is lower than any active starter besides Kershaw and DeGrom.

“He’s kind of doing Hall of Fame stuff,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters. “That guy is probably as big a baseball fan as anybody, just the history of the game and the competition. He’s a ballplayer, and it’s really cool to watch.”

Yet Sale has only 141 wins, and that perceived blemish could be an interesting litmus test for Hall voters who profess to recognize that wins are much more difficult to accumulate now that teams routinely limit starters to six or fewer innings.

Strikeouts are king these days, and the Dodgers clearly know it.

CLEVELAND — José Soriano threw six scoreless innings, Mike Trout had a hit in his return to the Angels’ lineup in a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.

Jo Adell had three hits and an RBI and Jorge Soler hit a solo homer down the left-field line in the ninth inning as the Angels snapped a five-game losing streak.

Cleveland’s José Ramírez had his 21-game hitting streak snapped. He drew a walk in the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to 26 games.

The Guardians, who have dropped four of their last five, avoided a shutout on Nolan Jones’ RBI single to right with two outs in the ninth.

It was the third time this season Soriano (4-5) has gone at least six innings and not given up a run. The right-hander yielded just four hits with two strikeouts and four walks.

Trout, activated off the injured list after he missed 26 games due to a bone bruise on his left knee, lined out to Ramírez at third in his first at-bat before he lined a base hit to left-center in the fourth inning.

Adell singled to right with one out in the second to drive in Soler, who drew a walk off Luis Ortiz (2-6) to lead off the inning.

The Angels added a pair of runs in the seventh when Scott Kingery scored on a passed ball and Soler had a run-scoring single to center.

Key moment: The Guardians had the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth inning, but Soriano got Gabriel Arias to chase a 98-mph sinker for the strikeout.

Key stat: Trout went one for five and batted fifth as the designated hitter. It was the first time since Sept. 26, 2011, the three-time American League MVP started a game hitting lower than third.

Up next: RHP Kyle Hendricks (2-6, 5.23 ERA) goes for the Angels while RHP Slade Cecconi (1-1, 3.27 ERA) takes the mound for the Guardians.

Jack Kochanowicz mowed through his first three innings against the Yankees on Monday night.

The 6-foot-7 sinkerballer was doing all of what manager Ron Washington asked of him before the game: pitch to contact and let his defense do the work.

“Just be Jack,” Washington said. ‘Throw his sinker, change, eye-level, put the ball in play early — which is when he’s at his best. That’s what he does. So that’s all. I’m not looking for him to be nothing more than that, and if he’s that, it’ll be good enough.”

Nine up, and nine down on 28 pitches — Kochanowicz looked “good enough.” He was hurling just as efficiently as he did against the Dodgers on May 16 when he limited the Angels’ crosstown foes to just one run across 6 ⅔ innings. As he jaunted to the mound for the fourth, the crowd woke up, rising in volume; but not for Kochanowicz.

“Let’s go, Yankees,” the fans in the right-field seats of Angel Stadium bellowed, much like the “Bleacher Creatures” would back in the Bronx. First baseman Ben Rice singled, and then center fielder Trent Grisham did too. Following a rousing ovation, designated hitter Aaron Judge — who upped his batting average to a league-high .398 — loaded the bases on an infield single.

As Yankees fans roared louder, Kochanowicz hiccuped. The sophomore starting pitcher walked Cody Bellinger on four pitches to bring in a run, and two batters later, Anthony Volpe hit a bases-clearing double off the center-field wall to power the Yankees (33-20) to a three-run lead. It was more than enough to take down the Angels (25-28), who struggled to string together hits for the third consecutive game in a 5-1 loss to open the series.

“Always just comes down to pitch calling,” Kochanowicz said. “It’s very easy to ask yourself a million questions about every pitch you throw, but I think I just — I came at them hard that inning. I didn’t start anyone off with the breaking ball. So that was probably it.”

Shortstop Zach Neto led off the bottom of the first with a 440-foot solo home run to center field — the longest of his career — but it was all the Angels had to offer at the plate. Before the game, Washington called his offense young and inconsistent.

The Angels offered more of those characteristics against the Yankees and left-hander Ryan Yarbrough.

Outside of a fluke infield single from Jo Adell, Neto’s home run was all the Angels mustered against the funky, sidearm delivery of the New York southpaw through six innings.

“The way we were swinging the bat, I did think that we would have at least three or four guys in that line of constantly clicking,” Washington said after the Angels were limited to five hits. “Miami come up in here and put us away, and then now we fight to try to find it back again.”

Yarbrough easily dispatched Chris Taylor — who started in center field and went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in his Angels debut — for a flyout and second baseman Kevin Newman for a strikeout to end the fifth.

“Yarbrough did a good job,” Taylor said. “Shut us down for the most part.”

The sixth inning was no better as the top of the Angels’ lineup went down 1-2-3 and Yarbrough exited with his longest and arguably best start of the season, striking out seven. The Angels struck out 11 times in the game.

“Sustaining that offense that we had,” Washington said when asked before the game about matching the offensive rhythm of the Angels’ eight-game winning streak, “it’s impossible.”

Outside of his four-run, fourth inning, Kochanowicz was in the “midseason form” he described himself in on Sunday. The right-hander pumped his fastball as high as 97.3 mph and averaged 95 on his sinker, both a tick below his season averages. Four of his 6 ⅔ innings concluded in 1-2-3 fashion.

“I thought he was good, really,” Washington said. “Those first three innings, he was dominating. … If we could just take [the fourth inning] back it’d be a different ballgame.”

Kochanowicz struck out five and walked two, giving up just five hits. But the Angels’ offense didn’t back up their pitchers, sending them to a three-game losing streak.

Note: Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was removed from the game in the eighth inning after being hit in the head on a backswing from Yankees second baseman Jorbit Vivas. O’Hoppe was removed as a precaution, Washington said, and was unavailable for comment after the game. “[O’Hoppe is] telling me he can play [tomorrow], but we’re going to wait and see,” Washington said.