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

SEATTLE – Clayton 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 has 2,493 strikeouts and trails only Don Sutton in franchise history. Sutton has 2,696.

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 Los Angeles Angels.

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

Kershaw relied heavily on his slider that produced 12 swinging strikes. But his curveball was just as good, and was the pitch he used to strike out Seager looking to end the sixth inning.

Kershaw walked one and threw only 96 pitches.

It was his first game of at least 10 strikeouts since Aug. 25, 2019, when he fanned 12 against the Yankees.