ST. LOUIS — Max Scherzer struck out 13 in his hometown, and Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday.
Scherzer (13-4) permitted one unearned run and six hits in eight innings in his 104th double-digit strikeout game, including six against St. Louis. That ties him for fifth place in MLB history.
“I don’t get caught up in the results,” Scherzer said. “I focus on the process. Results take care of themselves. Results are great when you get them. For me, it’s all about throwing strikes.”
Scherzer also recorded the ninth 200-plus strikeout season of his career. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is six K’s away from becoming the 19th player in big league history to reach 3,000 strikeouts.
“That’s a huge milestone. It’s something I’ll be proud of,” Scherzer said. “It’s great to go out there and get strikeouts, but it’s great to go out there and pitch well.”
The Dodgers have won all seven of Scherzer’s starts since the St. Louis native was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Washington Nationals.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Scherzer has provided a big boost.
“He’s better than advertised,” Roberts said. “We knew what we were going to get as a far as the player. He’s certainly even exceeded that. He’s as good as they get. We’ve needed him.”
Tommy Edman scored the Cardinals’ only run on Austin Barnes‘ passed ball in the sixth.
“The guy is tough,” St. Louis manager Mike Shildt said of Scherzer. “Today, he got the better of us. He did a nice job. He gets better as he goes. He’s a workhorse. He expects to go deep in games.”
The Dodgers remained one game back of NL West-leading San Francisco. The World Series champions dropped two of three against the Giants in their previous series, and then didn’t get to their hotel room until about 3 a.m. But they jumped all over St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas for four runs in the first.
“The guys sleepwalking and to go out there and get me four runs is such a huge boost for me,” Scherzer said. “That lets me go out there and be aggressive.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.