LOS ANGELES: After Clayton Kershaw completed a spectacular month on the mound with yet another dominant victory, he struggled to muster much excitement about his performance or even the Los Angeles Dodgers’ leap to the top of the standings. Kershaw knows it’s only June. But what a month it’s been for the Dodgers and their incredible left-hander.
Kershaw struck out 13 during seven innings of five-hit ball, and Andre Ethier hit a three-run homer in the Dodgers’ 6-0 victory over the St Louis Cardinals yesterday.
Kershaw (9-2) extended his career-best scoreless streak to 28 innings in his first home start since throwing his first no-hitter June 18 against Colorado. He went 6-0 with an 0.82 ERA in June, yielding four runs in 44 innings and striking out 61.
“More importantly, we’ve just won every game,’’ Kershaw said.
“We’re on a good run. In a long season, we’ll go on a bunch of runs. We’ve just got to make sure the lowest points aren’t as low.’’
The Dodgers have had nothing but high points lately: With 12 wins in 16 games, Los Angeles (47-37) has pulled virtually even with the slumping Giants (46-36) atop the NL West. The Dodgers were 9 1/2 games behind San Francisco on June 8, but erased the entire deficit in three weeks.
Agencies
