Clayton Kershaw reaches the 2,500 career strikeout milestone

Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw struck out his 2,500th career batter on Thursday against Arizona

Another start, another milestone in the remarkable Hall of Fame-bound career of Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw became the 39th pitcher in Major League history to strike out 2,500 batters in his career, reaching the milestone in the second inning of the Dodgers’ game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night. Kershaw came into the game three strikeouts shy and, after recording two in the first inning, got Nick Ahmed swinging on a curveball for the first out of the second.

Kershaw joins some elite company. Of the 38 pitchers ahead of him on the career strikeouts list, 22 are in the Hall of Fame. He’s the sixth active pitcher to reach 2,500, joining Felix Hernandez, Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander.

He still has time to climb much higher on the list. At the age of 32, Kershaw is the third-youngest pitcher to reach the milestone after Nolan Ryan and Walter Johnson. He’s making his 350th career start on Thursday; only Randy Johnson, Ryan, and Scherzer did it in fewer games. He’s also only the second pitcher to do it with the Dodgers, joining Hall of Famer Don Sutton. His 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings rank fifth all-time among pitchers with at least 300 starts, behind Chris Sale, Scherzer, Johnson, and Pedro Martinez.

Kershaw entered play on Thursday with a 4-1 record and 1.80 ERA. He’s already a three-time Cy Young Award winner. Next up on the career strikeout list is Christy Mathewson with 2,507. Kershaw is bound to blow past that mark and many others by the time his career is through.