Clayton Kershaw dominates Cardinals; Dodgers move into tie for first

We interrupt the current glorification of all things World Cup and the hyper-analysis of the NBA draft and concern about U.S. men’s tennis at Wimbledon to bring you this local sporting update:

The Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw have got it going.

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FOR THE RECORD

An earlier version of this post said that Clayton Kershaw’s 28-inning scoreless streak is the fifth-longest in Los Angeles Dodgers history. It is the eighth-longest.

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Kershaw completed a month of dominance on a muggy Sunday afternoon, pitching the Dodgers to a 6-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals that pushed them back into a virtual tie for first place in the National League West.

In just 21 days, the Dodgers made up 9½ games to tie the shrinking Giants for the division lead. Last year they also made up a 9½-game deficit, but it took them 30 days.

They surged to the top Sunday behind a timely offensive attack and the continued remarkable pitching of Kershaw, who currently is only the greatest pitcher on the planet.

If it’s possible some still doubt that, they had only to take in Sunday’s effort against the Cardinals.

Kershaw (9-2) went seven scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks and striking out 13. He has now thrown 28 consecutive scoreless innings, the eighth-longest streak in Los Angeles Dodgers history.

For the month of June, Kershaw went 6-0 with an 0.82 earned-run average. He struck out 61 and walked four in 44 innings. He just might be the NL pitcher of the month.

It was actually St. Louis’ Shelby Miller who made the early starting pitching news. Miller retired the first eight Dodgers until Kershaw worked a two-out walk in the third.

The Dodgers broke through with two runs in the fourth on an RBI single by Matt Kemp and a sacrifice fly by Juan Uribe, before breaking it open with a four-run fifth.

After a hustling double by Yasiel Puig and an RBI single by Adrian Gonzalez, Kemp doubled before Andre Ethier unleashed a three-run home run.

It was Ethier’s first home run since May 27 and fourth on the season.

Meanwhile, the They-Used-To-Be-Giants were falling, 4-0, to the Cincinnati Reds in San Francisco. Though the Dodgers (47-37) are still a game behind the Giants (46-36) in the loss column, this marks the first time L.A. has had a share of first place since April 24.

With Kershaw dominating, the Dodgers have won 12 of their last 16 games.