Kershaw dominant, strikes out 11 as Dodgers top Mariners 6-1

SEATTLE (AP) — Clayton Kershaw may not know the exact change he made has him again throwing like one of the top pitchers in the National League.

Whatever it was, it's unlocked a dominant version of the left-hander over his past two starts.

“I don’t know. I just know that you reach back and the ball comes out a little bit differently,” Kershaw said. “I don’t know why other than all the different stuff we’ve tried over the past 10 moths or so, but it’s a good feeling, no doubt.”

Kershaw struck out a season-high 11 in seven strong innings, Cody Bellinger homered for the second straight game and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Thursday.

Kershaw moved past Don Drysdale and into second place on the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout list. It came on his fifth strikeout of the game when he got Shed Long Jr. swinging leading off the fifth inning. Kershaw now has 2,493 and trails only Don Sutton in franchise history. Sutton has 2,696.

“It's very cool to be a Dodger long enough to accomplish something like that. It's pretty special and some of the names on that list, it's pretty cool to be a part of that,” Kershaw said.

Kershaw (3-1) struck out the side in the fifth and got Sam Haggerty leading off the sixth. He closed out his dominant afternoon by fanning Long and Braden Bishop. It was a second straight dominant performance for the lefty, after he allowed one run and one hit in his last start against the Angels.

Seattle managed just four hits off Kershaw and the only run came on Kyle Seager’s solo home run in the fourth inning. Haggerty’s double and singles by Kyle Lewis and Austin Nola were the only other hits allowed by Kershaw.

“When you get a veteran pitcher out there like that who’s on top of his game, it’s a struggle,...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Kershaw-dominant-strikes-out-11-as-Dodgers-top-15502229.php