Dodgers complete sweep of Rockies as Clayton Kershaw inches closer to historic milestone

DENVER -- Prior to this series finale, all eyes were on Clayton Kershaw as he was just eight punchouts away from reaching the illustrious 3,000 career strikeout milestone. The anticipation surrounding whether Kershaw would achieve strikeout number 3,000 today continued to grow as usual, but despite not reaching the mountaintop in this particular start, the Dodgers' southpaw displayed yet another efficient outing en route to the Dodgers completing the sweep of Rockies at Coors Field by a final of 3-1, as he tossed six innings of one-run ball while striking out five. The future first ballot Hall of Famer is now sitting at 2,997 career strikeouts and is having himself a solid month of June, as in his last 5 starts, he is 4-0, punching out 23 batters, while posting a 2.28 ERA. 

The Rockies would only tag Kershaw for one run as Brenton Doyle would hit a solo shot in the second, but that would be all she wrote for Colorado as Kershaw and the Dodgers' bullpen would quiet the Rockies' offense. Los Angeles began their scoring in the top of the third by way of a Mookie Betts RBI single, and in the top half of the sixth, Freddie Freeman would break his hitless skid as he would knock in an RBI single. Shohei Ohtani delivered a go-ahead home run in the top half of the seventh, his 28th home run of the season, which landed in the Dodgers' bullpen. Funny enough, the ball was caught by Kirby Yates, who was warming up for the bottom half of the inning. 

Despite going 0-4 on the day, Andy Pages displayed his arm strength again to finish off the game, as with a runner at first and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Thairo Estrada would line out to Pages in center for out number two, and without a second of hesitation, Pages would gun out Tyler Freeman at first to complete the inning ending double play. 

The Dodgers now sit at 51-31, six games atop the NL West, and look to win their fifth straight game overall as Los Angeles heads to Kansas City to play the Royals for three games to complete the month of June. In the pregame, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Shohei Ohtani's next scheduled start will be Saturday, with no confirmation on how many innings he will pitch.