Clayton Kershaw, who last year passed Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax on the franchise strikeouts list, moved past Hall of Famer Don Drysdale in a 6-1 win over the Mariners on Thursday and now chases only Hall of Famer Don Sutton for the top spot.

Nothing but elite.

Kershaw struck out 11 (six called) in a four-hitter over seven innings at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. He fanned Shed Long Jr. leading off the fifth inning to move past Drysdale (14 seasons) and has 2,493 strikeouts, trailing only all-time leader Sutton, who struck out 2,696 in 16 seasons with the Dodgers.

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“Obviously, very cool,” Kershaw said of the latest milestone. “Just to be a Dodger long enough to accomplish something like that is pretty special. Some of the names on that list, it’s pretty cool to be a part of it. Someday, I’ll look back and think it’s pretty cool. But today, it was a great start all around.”

Kershaw, in his 13th season, continued to polish his future Cooperstown résumé while striking out seven of the last 11 batters he faced, following up last week’s one-hitter over seven innings against the Angels. He’s 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA this year, and at 172-75, he’s five wins behind Brickyard Kennedy for fourth on the franchise all-time wins list (behind Sutton, Drysdale and Dazzy Vance).

“That was vintage Kershaw,” said Cody Bellinger, who homered for the second consecutive game.

Much has been discussed of Kershaw’s 1.5 mph increase in velocity after an offseason of experiments, which included a visit to Driveline Baseball. But in this game he threw almost twice as many breaking balls, with both the slider and overhand curve for batters to worry about.

“There’s nothing to say you can’t be on the attack using secondary pitches,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The slider was the difference-maker. He was able to strike it, shorten it. The curveball usage was up considerably. He held his stuff through seven. He gets strike one better than anybody in baseball, and he always has these hitters on the defensive. Just phenomenal.”

At age 32, Kershaw has three sharp pitches, as he did before the back and shoulder injuries of the previous two seasons. They might be even better.

“I think as far as where his slider is at the last couple turns, I think there’s a little bit more dynamic a pitcher,” said Roberts.”Using armside a little bit more. The curveball usage is up since 2017. What he’s doing with the slider sets the tone for everything for him.”

“I’ve always thought I could compete,” Kershaw said. “Your stuff sometimes comes and goes. But your ability to compete and ability to manipulate through games and figure ways to get outs, ultimately, that’s what wins games. I’m thankful my stuff has ticked up this year. I’m going to pitch as long as I’m having fun -- and I’m having a ton of fun, and I don’t see that stopping any time soon.”

With the victory, Kershaw is 21-5 in his career against the American League, 4-0 against the Mariners and 3-0 in Seattle. And the timing was precise, as Julio Urías’ 1 2/3-innings start Wednesday night had the bullpen in need of a breather. Dodgers starters had failed to complete at least five innings in 13 of 26 games.

“That’s our job as a starter: pick the other starters up when they have a bad one, and they do the same for you,” said Kershaw. “I know they threw a lot of innings last night. It was good to give those guys a blow down there.”

He received all the support he needed in a four-run, 35-pitch third inning. Kiké Hernández singled and Austin Barnes walked before Matt Beaty appeared to strike out on a Yusei Kikuchi slider in the dirt and headed to the dugout. But home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson called a foul ball, and with the reprieve, Beaty doubled into the right-field corner to score Hernández. Barnes scored on Joseph Odom’s passed ball, and Beaty was singled home by AJ Pollock, who was then singled home by Bellinger.

Kyle Seager, Corey’s brother, ruined Kershaw’s shutout with a one-out solo home run on a slider in the fourth inning.

“It took a few innings to get my slider going,” Kershaw said. “After Seager hit that homer, I tried to do some different things and finish it a little better, and it definitely got better as the game went on. Curveball was good, which I was thankful for. A lot of guys were taking it, so that was kind of a free strike, and I buried a few at the end for strikeouts.”