Clayton Kershaw pitched a masterful game Thursday night, earning a shutout as the Dodgers beat the Mets 5-0. He held the Mets to three hits and one walk while striking out 13. That performance pushes Kershaw way past Jake Arrieta for first place in Tom Tango Cy Young Tracker points.

Note that the big reason Kershaw is ahead is innings. Kershaw leads the majors with 62 IP in eight starts, meaning he’s averaging nearly eight innings a start. That seems like a high workload for a pitcher, but note that Kershaw threw just 109 pitches in complete his shutout Thursday night, and has only gone over 110 pitches in a game twice this year. For a high strikeout pitcher, he is working very efficiently.

Note that Max Scherzer pitched a very efficient game in his 20 strikeout performance on Wednesday night. It makes me wonder if some of the better pitchers have stopped “wasting” pitches in order to go deeper in games. On the other hand, since they are around the plate quite a bit, some batters maybe going for contact on the first pitch, because that may be the best one they see. It’s something to watch. Chris Sale pitches today, and he might be doing the same thing.