Clayton Kershaw closed out one of the best months a Dodgers pitcher has ever produced Sunday with his 6-0 victory over St. Louis.
The left-hander struck out 13 batters and held the Cardinals to five hits over seven innings, improving his record in June to 6-0 and lowering his ERA over the same stretch to 0.82. Including his 15-strikeout no-hitter against Colorado on June 18, Kershaw struck out 61 batters in the month, a total matched only by Sandy Koufax in Dodgers history.
“As a starting pitcher, you want to keep your team in the game early,” said Kershaw, “then we can break through (offensively). … We’ve been scoring a lot of runs (lately), and that’s a sign of a good team.”
Kershaw improved his overall record to 9-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.04.
“He had one rough outing (an 18-7 loss to Arizona on May 17),” said Matt Kemp, who was 2 for 3 with an RBI Sunday, “and since then he’s been the best pitcher in the world. He’s getting better and better every year, and that’s hard to do. … It’s fun to watch.”
The victory also moved L.A. into a first-place tie with San Francisco in the National League West. Just three weeks ago, the Dodgers trailed the Giants by 9 ½ games in the division.