LOS ANGELES (AP) – Clayton Kershaw tied Sandy Koufax’s franchise record of six straight 200-strikeout seasons while tossing eight scoreless innings, and the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Washington Nationals 3-0 Wednesday night.
Kershaw (10-6) took a perfect game bid into the sixth inning, when Michael Taylor doubled to deep center field. Kershaw retired the next two batters on grounders to end the inning.
The 27-year-old left-hander struck out the side in the second to equal the mark set by Koufax from 1961-66. Koufax and Tom Seaver (1968-76) are the only pitchers in modern NL history to accomplish the feat in six or more consecutive seasons.
Kershaw is unbeaten in his last seven starts and he reached double-digit wins for the sixth straight year. The reigning Cy Young Award winner and league MVP gave up three hits and struck out eight in a game that lasted 2:20.
Anthony Rendon singled leading off the seventh and Taylor singled in the eighth for the only other hits off Kershaw. The Nationals dropped the season series 4-2 after getting outscored 8-0 in the last two games.