Scherzer notches 3,000th strikeout, immaculate inning

LOS ANGELES — Max Scherzer of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the 19th player in major league history with 3,000 strikeouts and nearly completed a perfect game in Sunday’s 8-0 victory over the Padres at Dodger Stadium.

The 37-year-old righthander fanned San Dieg’s Eric Hosmer in the fifth inning for the historic strikeout, which came three innings after he threw the third immaculate inning of his career.

The crowd gave the threetime Cy Young Award winner a standing ovation, and Scherzer doffed his cap. He threw the keepsake ball into the dugout. Hosmer went down on six pitches, retired on a swinging strike.

Scherzer lost his perfect game when Hosmer lined a clean double into the rightfield corner with one out in the eighth inning. Scherzer has thrown two no-hitters in his 14-year career — both in 2015. He completed 8 2/3 perfect innings in the first before the Pirates’ Jose Tábata appeared to lean into a pitch but was awarded first base.

It took Scherzer 404 games to get 3,000 strikeouts, second fewest in history behind Hall of Famer Randy Johnson at 362 games, per Elias Sports Bureau. He’s also the first to reach the mark in a Dodgers uniform.

Knowing Scherzer needed one more strikeout, fans got to their feet and cheered each time he had two strikes on a batter. Some held up cell phones to record the moment.

Scherzer allowed just the one hit over eight shutout innings and finished with nine strikeouts, giving him 3,0003 for his career.