Clayton Kershaw strikes out a baker's dozen while shutting out Mets

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw continued his dominance, allowing just three hits, setting another Dodgers record in the process. The offense showed its support as well, earning a split with the Mets with a 5-0 victory on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

Kershaw struck out 13 and walked one for his second shutout of the season. In doing so he became the first Dodger ever with five consecutive starts of 10 or more strikeouts.

His strikeout-to-walk ratio actually went down with this game, from 21.33 to 19.25.

Before the game, manager Dave Roberts described the mood of the team when Kershaw's name comes up on the schedule.

"There is such a quiet, centered focus when he steps into the clubhouse on his start day," Roberts said. "Every player and coach will say that every game is a must-win game and every game is important, but when you have the best pitcher on the planet pitching for you that day, those are games you have to win."

Kershaw was cruising, and needed just 109 pitches to finish off New York, improving to 7-0 with a 1.17 ERA in 10 career regular season starts against the Mets.

The only Mets to reach base were David Wright with a walk in the first inning, Asdrubal Cabrera with a single in the fourth, Curtis Granderson with a double in the sixth, and Cabrera with a single in the ninth.

Kershaw has lasted at least seven innings in each of his eight starts this year, lowering his ERA to 1.74. He leads the majors in both innings (62) and strikeouts (77).

Hot start

Bartolo Colon is always around the strike zone, entering play on Thursday having thrown strikes in a National League-best 70.4 percent of his pitches. To open the first inning, both Chase Utley and Corey Seager capitalized on this fact with a pair of first-pitch singles.

Justin Turner followed with a single of his own, albeit on four pitches, to score a run, then two outs later Yasmani Grandal crushed a ball 449 feet to right center field for a three-run home run and a quick 4-0 advantage.

The four runs in the first inning represented more runs than the Dodgers had scored in any of their previous 12 home games.

Resurgent Chase

Utley wasn't done with his first inning single. He added a solo home run in the second inning, then another single in the fifth. He is hitting .296/.392/.454 on the season.

Game info

Home runs: Yasmani Grandal (3), Chase Utley (2)

WP - Clayton Kershaw (5-1): 9 IP, 3 hits, 1 walk, 13 strikeouts

LP - Bartolo Colon (3-2): 5 IP, 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 strikeouts