As Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw faced off against Max Scherzer of the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, there's no doubt the two pitchers have been some of the best in the position in the 21st century. With Scherzer speaking about the matchup against the Dodgers' pitcher, Kershaw would speak about the Blue Jays' ace and how their careers have stacked up against the rest.
17 years ago, both Kershaw and Scherzer faced off as rookies in place of Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson for Los Angeles and the Arizona Diamondbacks, almost acting as a passing of the torch moment. Now, the two faced off once again in what was historic as they are the first pitchers to face off as rookies and then record over 3,000 strikeouts, according to MLB.com, as Kershaw speaks on how “cool” the moment was.
“I think it's really cool that Scherz was the guy right before me to get to 3,000,” Kershaw said. “I got to play with him, I got to compete against him, basically our whole careers, I think it is really cool that we got to do this in our first year, and I don't know if it's our last year, but toward the end, for sure.”
Los Angeles would end up winning the matchup, 5-1, as it was no doubt a battle as Scherzer expected it would be, especially facing a dangerous lineup and Kershaw on the mound.
“You knew it was gonna be a battle,” he said. “You knew there’s not gonna be many runs scored, or many runs scored against him, you gotta be absolutely nails.”
Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer share a special moment
As the Dodgers win also featured Mookie Betts racking up three RBIs, there's no denying baseball fans of any age were watching the matchup between two future Hall-of-Fame pitchers in Kershaw and Scherzer. The latter would get the loss as he struck five batters out, walked three, allowing three hits, and two runs in six innings, as even at 41 years old, Kershaw didn't see a slip in velocity.
“Scherz was throwing the ball great,” Kershaw said. “He was throwing like 96 tonight. It doesn't look like he's aged at all.”
As for Kershaw, he recorded four strikeouts while allowing only one run, four walks, and seven hits in six innings. It was a special moment for Scherzer to face off against Kershaw, reminiscing about when they were rookies.
“You go back to that game, we were competing with each other all the way back then,” Scherzer said. “It’s a cool little milestone moment here, where we’re hooking it back up against each other, squaring off each other again.”
“He’s had such a great career, and getting to be a teammate with him — he’s an awesome teammate as well,” Scherzer continued. “I got all the respect in the world for what he does, on and off the field.”
Los Angeles will continue the series against Toronto on Saturday night and Sunday.
