Braves’ Ray Kerr Makes Never-Before-Seen Baseball History

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 04: Ray Kerr #62 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game two of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 04, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ryan Sirius Sun/Getty Images)

Ray Kerr’s storybook tale for the Atlanta Braves isn’t done yet.

He started another massive playoff baseball game on Sunday night — this time in Los Angeles against the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers — and Kerr wasn’t fazed at all.

Instead, he was his usual effective self.

It’s amazing to see, of course. Kerr’s story is getting more known. He was a community college pitcher who quit baseball. He worked in a movie theater and a 7-Eleven.

It took a persuasive JuCo coach just to get Kerr back into organized baseball at all.

Then it took a trip to the Alaskan collegiate summer league just to get in front of scouts.

Even then, nothing was a given for Kerr.

He was an undrafted player who the Seattle Mariners signed. He toiled in the minors, also going through time with the San Diego Padres.

Kerr entered the playoffs having pitched in 48 games in the major leagues. No one would’ve expected this star turn.

Yet here Kerr is, making magic happen on the mound.

Ray Kerr vs. Dodgers

Kerr got the first eight outs against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night in NLDS Game 2.

That included twice getting out Shohei Ohtani, including a strikeout on Kerr’s heater past Ohtani’s swinging bat.

Kerr allowed two hits and a walk while striking out four.

Most importantly, he didn’t allow a run.

The Braves led 1-0 when Kerr left the game. He didn’t go deep enough to be given the pitching win, but Kerr did everything the Braves wanted him to do.

It turned into a bullpen game after him, but Kerr clearly was up to the task again.

Ray Kerr History

There’s a social media account called Pitchergami that tracks five stats — innings pitched, runs allowed, walks allowed, hits allowed and strikeouts.

If a pitcher has a unique total in all those categories in the same game compared to all of MLB history, it’s a Pitchergami.

Kerr had one on Sunday night.

His line had never been done before:

This is one that makes a lot of sense. For most of baseball history, a pitcher that had gone 2.2 scoreless innings wouldn’t come out before the third — at least not unless they then got shelled and had some runs on their ledger.

Kerr, though, was never planned to go super long. He went 3.1 innings in his last outing, when he started Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series and didn’t give up a run that night, either.

He did exactly what the Braves wanted on Sunday night, and in the process got his own quirky bit of history.

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Braves’ Ray Kerr Makes Never-Before-Seen Baseball History

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