Freddie walks it off, giving LA perfect end to Kershaw's 3K night

LOS ANGELES -- Before anyone had even thrown a pitch on Wednesday night, Dodger Stadium thrummed with emotion. Anticipation was high, with Clayton Kershaw on the precipice of an elusive career milestone.

Once the game was underway, that anticipation turned into tension, as Kershaw labored through the early innings. The energy took a dip when third baseman Max Muncy went down in the sixth inning with a left knee injury, only for it to shoot back up when Kershaw notched his 3,000th career strikeout not long after.

After the highs and lows, the Dodgers sent their fans home satisfied. Freddie Freeman walked off the White Sox with an RBI single, capping a three-run ninth-inning comeback effort that secured a 5-4 victory -- and a series win, setting up a chance to sweep the three-game set.

Kershaw got the three strikeouts he needed to become the 20th member of the 3,000-strikeout club, but he left the game in line for the loss after giving up four runs in six innings. Freeman's timely knock made what was already a special night even more enjoyable.

"Today was going to be about Clayton, and rightfully so," manager Dave Roberts said. "And to kind of get that part of it, to then recalibrate, to still focus and find a way to win a baseball game, I do think that that makes Clayton feel better, that the four runs that he gave up, or whatever it was, didn't cost us the game as well."

Trailing 4-2 entering the ninth, a leadoff single by Michael Conforto and walks to Tommy Edman and Hyeseong Kim set the stage for the top of the Dodgers' potent lineup, and L.A.'s stars got the job done.

Shohei Ohtani beat out a potential double play to bring home one run, and Mookie Betts tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Ohtani swiped second base -- his first steal since May 20 -- before Will Smith walked and Freeman won it with a single to right field.

"When you have something so special like this, you want to win these games," Freeman said in a postgame interview on SportsNet LA. "Just like we always do, we come back, we fight all the way to the end and we were able to pull it out tonight."

"Give the White Sox credit, too," Kershaw said. "They didn't make it easy on me at all. So it was a tough night all the way around. But what a way to end it, with Freddie coming up clutch there."