Clayton Kershaw picked up his 200th career win and moved into 22nd on the all-time strikeout list as the host Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 5-0 victory Tuesday to end the New York Mets’ five-game winning streak.
J.D. Martinez hit two home runs in his first multi-homer game with the Dodgers and the 19th of his career. He drove in four runs.
In addition to his milestone win, Kershaw (3-1) also improved to 11-0 in 17 career regular-season starts against the Mets. He has gone 1-1 against New York in the postseason. The left-hander gave up three hits in seven innings with no walks and nine strikeouts to give him 2,833 in his career.
Mets starter Tylor Megill (3-1) gave up three runs on seven hits over five innings. The native of nearby Los Alamitos, Calif., gave up four walks with four strikeouts as he made his Dodger Stadium debut.
New York is now 4-1 on a 10-game California road trip.
Kershaw was up to the task early, after a three-base error by right fielder Jayson Heyward when he dropped a fly ball from Mets leadoff man Brandon Nimmo to open the game. Kershaw proceeded to strike out Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
Martinez brought the Dodgers’ offense to life. He followed a single by Freddie Freeman in the first inning with a towering home run to center field for a 2-0 lead. Martinez delivered again in the third inning with a home run to the opposite field in right, his third of the season.
Kershaw, meanwhile, was in cruise control. He retired 10 consecutive batters and didn’t give up a hit until a Lindor single in the fourth inning.
Kershaw then set down 10 consecutive batters before Mark Canha blooped a single to right with two outs during a 13-pitch at-bat in the seventh and Jeff McNeil followed with a single. He ended his outing by striking out Tommy Pham, who represented the tying run.
The Dodgers added a pair of runs in the eighth inning on a Freeman sacrifice fly and a Martinez single. Dodgers relievers Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol each pitched an inning to complete the shutout.
–Field Level Media
