Clayton Kershaw became Major League Baseball's first 18-game winner on Monday night as he defeated the San Diego Padres.
Kershaw allowed three runs, just one earned, while striking out eight over eight innings. He lowered baseball's best ERA to just 1.67 in the 9-4 win.
"It was a good night for us. There wasn't a whole lot of stress because we got some runs early -- and we haven't had too many of those," said Kershaw, who hadn't received more than four runs of support while he was in the game in any of his previous seven outings. "Obviously when you get that big of a lead, you just want to pound the zone. I got some good plays defensively behind me."
Kershaw is 15-1 with a 1.20 ERA and six complete games in his last 18 starts.