Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday threw his first career no-hitter and was a Hanley Ramirez error away from pitching a perfect game. He didn’t walk a batter and he struck out 15. He only threw 107 pitches while achieving the shutout.
When it’s all said and done, that will go down as probably the most dominant no-hitter of all time.
The Dodgers’ two-time Cy Young Award winner achieved a game score of 102 for his outing. Game Score is a metric invented by Bill James that measures the dominance of a pitcher’s outing, and it’s one of my favorite statistics to evaluate starting pitchers. Here’s how game score is calculated:
“Start with 50 points. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (or 3 points per inning). Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed. Subtract 1 point for each walk.”
According to ESPN Stats and Info, Kershaw’s 102 game score is the second-highest game score in the last 100 years. Only Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game, which was a 1-hitter, was higher (he got a 105). Kershaw did not allow a hit.
Kershaw’s 15 strikeouts were also the third-highest ever in a no-hitter, ranking behind Nolan Ryan, who struck out 17 and 16 in separate no-hitters, and tying with Ryan (again), Don Wilson and Warren Spahn.
A couple of other great tidbits about the no-hitter: the Dodgers have 22 in franchise history, which leads MLB. Also, the 24 days between Kershaw and Josh Beckett’s no-hitters is the shortest span between no-hitters by pitchers from the same team.
9 IP 0 hits 0 runs 0 walks 15 strikeouts. Dang.
