Dodger fans old enough to have witnessed Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale pitch in person are blessed to have seen the greatest lefty-righty pitching duo in franchise history. But if you are among the majority of today’s Dodger fans and missed out on those glory days between 1962 and 1966, you’re in luck. You are witnessing history repeat itself with current Dodgers co-aces Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.

By now every Dodger fan is well aware that right-hander Zack Greinke is slowly closing in on former Dodger Orel Hershiser’s MLB record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings set in 1988 when he beat Don Drysdale’s previous MLB record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings streak set in 1968. And although Greinke still has a very long way to go with his 43.2 consecutive scoreless innings, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw extended his own scoreless innings streak to 29 innings when he shut out the New York Mets at Citi Field on Thursday night while allowing only three hits, walking none and striking out 11 to improve his record to 8-6 and lowering his ERA to 2.51.

But Kershaw did a lot more on Thursday night. Not only did he pitch a complete game 3-0 shutout and strike out 10 or more batters for the ninth time this season, he also kept the 34,222 at Citi Field on the edge of their seats – including those wearing blue and orange – when he took a perfect game into the bottom of the seventh inning.

“There’s a lot of luck that has to happen for a perfect game.”– Clayton Kershaw
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Kershaw’s bid for perfection ended on an 0-2 slider to Mets right fielder Curtis Granderson which he looped into right field in front of a hard charging Yasiel Puig. Granderson’s single was followed a soft liner to right by Mets second baseman Wilmer Flores to put runners at first and second with one out threatening Kershaw’s shutout. But the crafty left-hander struck out left fielder John Mayberry and got third baseman Eric Campbell to ground out to short to end the inning.

The only other Mets hit was a hard ground ball single off the bat of first baseman Lucas Duda that just got past a diving Kiké Hernandez in the hole at second base in the bottom of the eighth inning; however, Duda was promptly picked off of first base by Kershaw, thereby making Granderson the only Mets base runner to reach second base on the night.

Although Mets veteran right-hander Bartolo Colon pitched a gem himself allowing only five hits while striking out four and walking none, one of those hits was a one-out solo home run by Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins in the third inning to give the Dodgers and Kershaw a 1-0 lead. As was often heard during the Koufax-Drysdale era, the phrase “There’s your run, Clayton” undoubtedly went through the minds of older Dodger fans.

Jimmy Rollins’ solo home run, his 10th of the season, gave Kershaw the run he needed to win.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Dodgers would not score again until the top of the ninth when, after three consecutive singles off of Mets left-hander Sean Gilmartin, right-hander Carlos Torres issued a bases loaded walk to Dodgers pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo for a huge insurance run. The Dodgers tacked on one more run when right fielder Yasiel Puig hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field allowing Dodgers third baseman (and former Met) Justin Turner to tag up and score easily from third base to make it a 3-0 ballgame. Kershaw then retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth – including a strikeout of the man who broke up his perfect game (Granderson) – to secure to Dodgers victory.

Although Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was only two years old during the Koufax-Drysdale heydays, he is definitely impressed with his own lefty-righty duo.

“Those two have been pretty special for a while,” said Mattingly after Thursday night’s game. “It’s been good for both of them. Zack has been so good and Clayton is so competitive in a healthy way to show how good he is. He didn’t want to go by the wayside and he’s shown us what he can do, too.”

As to be expected, when the competitive thing between he and Greinke was mentioned during his post-game interview, Kershaw told it exactly like it is.

“I don’t compete against my teammates,” Kershaw said. “It’s hard enough to get guys out. Yeah, I try to copy Zack, the way he’s throwing. I’m trying not to lower the bar.”

The win increased the Dodgers lead in the NL West to three games over the hated Giants, who were idle on Thursday. It also put the Dodgers 13 games over .500 at 55-42 and improved their current road trip record to 4-3 with three games remaining against the now 49-47 Mets.

With scheduled starter Zack Greinke back in Los Angeles for the birth of their first child, left-hander Ian Thomas (0-1, 7.20 ERA) will get the spot start for the Dodgers against Mets left-hander Jon Niese (5-8, 3.36 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 pm (PT).