Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Austin Barnes Took the Baseball That Clayton Kershaw Passed Cy Young With

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw came into his season finale needing six strikeouts to pass Cy Young for 24th place on the all-time leaderboard. Instead, he got nine, leaving Mr. Young in the dust.

After the game, SportsNetLA’s Kirsten Watson brought up Kershaw passing the guy for whom the best pitcher award is named, and all he wanted to talk about was America’s Stepdad™ Tyler Anderson, who finished the season with one more strikeout than Kershaw (138 to 137).



“I know, but T.A. had more than me,” Kershaw joked. “He had one more, so that was really all I was going for, I was trying to catch T.A.”

Then Kershaw got a little more serious and introspective about the accomplishment of passing Young on the K board and talked about the role backup catcher Austin Barnes played in making sure the accomplishment was noted.

“It’s obviously incredible company, and I’m very … I don’t even know the right word, but … it’s just cool. I didn’t have any idea. Barnesy told me, I think he took the ball or something, he said he’s gonna keep it because I don’t appreciate it enough. That’s probably fair.”

When asked if he’s going to buy the ball from Barnes, Kershaw laughed.

“I don’t know. I’ll let Barnesy keep it.”

Barnes, who sat most of the game before taking over for Max Muncy at DH for his last plate appearance, spent some time on the SNLA broadcast during the sixth inning, and Joe Davis asked Barnes about getting the ball.

“Yeah, did you see what happened? He struck him out, and then he kept pitching with it. I was like, ‘Why does he keep pitching with it?’ But they fouled it off right there, and I got it, I brought it back for him.”

Davis asked Barnes if there was a chance Kershaw didn’t realize what he had accomplished, and Barnes seemed to think that was likely.

“Yeah, I don’t think he cares. He doesn’t care about stuff like that. I think it’s cool, though. Sometimes you gotta force him into things like that.”

The relationship between Kershaw and Barnes is pretty special, and it’s cool that even on a day when Barnes wasn’t catching, he still got the chance to snag a momentous ball and force Kershaw to realize what a big deal it is.

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Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

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