Clayton Kershaw day by day: Full control in Toronto

Today’s Clayton Kershaw start is his only career outing on May 7, and his only career game at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

This was the middle game of a three-game weekend series in 2016 against the Blue Jays, and pitted Kershaw against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey for the first time since those two finished second and first, respectively in National League Cy Young voting in 2012.

It was the 249th start of Kershaw’s career.

Kershaw struck out 10 in this game, the fourth of six consecutive starts with double-digit strikeouts, the longest such streak of his career. But it was his stinginess during this stretch that had Kershaw arguably at his best yet.

From my game recap:

Kershaw allowed single runs in the second and fifth innings, and was at 101 pitches through six. But he finished the seventh inning, the seventh time in seven starts this season he has lasted at least seven innings.

He also struck out 10 and walked none, matching his own major league record with three straight games of double-digit strikeouts and zero walks (Chris Archer is the only other pitcher to accomplish the feat). Kershaw on the season has a ridiculous 64 strikeouts against three walks, including 34 strikeouts since his last walk.

In allowing two runs in seven innings against the Jays, Kershaw’s seasonal ERA rose to 2.04. This was the last time his ERA started with a two the rest of the year.

The outing (W, 4-1): 7 IP, 8 hits, 2 runs, 10 strikeouts

Up next: A busy May 8, with four starts