Thanks to 13 strikeouts from Max Scherzer and a two-run home run from Chris Taylor, Los Angeles Dodgers galloped to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday in Major League Baseball (MLB).

Scherzer (13-4) starred in the game with six hits in eight innings and gave away just one unearned run in the 104th double-digit strikeout game, including six against St. Louis.

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He is now tied for fifth place in MLB history.

Scherzer also had his seventh career season with 200 or more strikeouts. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is six strikeouts away from being the 19th player in major league history to surpass 3,000 career strikeouts.

Since Scherzer was acquired in a stunning trade with Washington, the Dodgers have won all seven of his outings.

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Meanwhile, the Cardinals were handed their fourth loss in five games. They dropped 3 1/2 games back of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card.

Miles Mikolas (0-2) of St. Louis was charged with five runs, four of which were earned, and five hits in five innings. The Cardinals got three singles from Paul Goldschmidt, and Tommy Edman scored the game’s only run in the sixth inning on a passed ball by Austin Barnes.

The Dodgers took a 4-0 lead in the first inning. To get out of the inning, Mikolas needed 31 pitches.

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Trea Turner hit a two-run double and came home on Mookie Betts’ single. After Max Muncy scored on a double play, Corey Seager was hit by a pitch and Taylor hit his 20th home run into the left-field bullpen.

Los Angeles added an unearned run in the third.

Meanwhile, Betts walked and advanced to second on catcher Andrew Knizner’s pickoff throwing mistake. On Seager’s two-out single, he dashed home.

This season, Mikolas hasn’t pitched more than five innings in any of his starts. In each of his previous three starts, he has given up three or more earned runs.

With inputs from the Associated Press