Entering Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw was just three strikeouts away from eclipsing a historic milestone of 3,000 career strikeouts.
Kershaw was looking to become just the 20th player in baseball history to reach that mark. It’s a feat that some believe we will never see again given the way pitching has evolved over the years.
From the first pitch, the White Sox lineup was clearly trying to spoil Kershaw’s party. White Sox hitters were taking an aggressive approach, taking good cuts early in at-bats and sending pitches to the opposite field.
It resulted in Chicago hanging four runs on Kershaw over the first three innings. Austin Slater had a two-run home run while Andrew Benintendi and Edgar Quero each had RBI singles.
At one point, White Sox play-by-play broadcaster John Schriffen even mentioned that the White Sox looked like they had a little extra motivation on Wednesday night. The White Sox were playing like a team that was saying “not today, not against us” and looking to delay history.
For a while, it looked like the White Sox had succeeded. But one of the team’s most pathetic roster decisions in recent memory eventually came back to bite them.
Vinny Capra becomes No. 3000
With Clayton Kershaw closing in on 100 pitches for the first time in 2025, Michael A. Taylor lined a double down the left field line that nearly chased Kershaw from the game with 2,999 career strikeouts.
Dave Roberts left Kershaw in to face third baseman Vinny Capra, who predictably put together a pathetic at-bat and struck out looking.
Capra forever has his place in baseball history. As do the 2025 Chicago White Sox, and the entire baseball world made fun of them for it.
This is the most publicity Vinny Capra will get in his entire life pic.twitter.com/SBZHumkSIv
— Justin (@SoxSideJustin) July 3, 2025
Clayton Kershaw seeing Vinny Capra step in the box pic.twitter.com/LTskOMX2qH
— bson (@bsonnn4) July 3, 2025
It was frustrating to watch the White Sox once again be on the wrong side of baseball history, especially after the team’s great start to the ballgame and deliberate spoiler attempt.
Watching Capra strike out looking was another reminder of how pathetic the current state of the White Sox is. He’s not a Major League caliber player, but Chicago continues to trot him out there as an automatic out in the lineup.
To make matters worse, the White Sox ended up blowing the lead in the ninth inning and getting walked off by Los Angeles. It was the cherry on top of an incredibly frustrating evening at the ballpark.