Kershaw pitches 8-plus innings in career-high 32nd appearance
PHOENIX -- For Clayton Kershaw, surpassing the 200-inning mark for the first time in his career was "cool."
So were the Arizona Diamondbacks' bats against the 22-year-old left-hander on Friday night.
Kershaw allowed four hits and a run in eight-plus innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers hung on for a 3-1 victory. It was only the seventh win in the past 22 games for the Dodgers, who have dominated Arizona this season with an 11-2 mark so far this season.
Kershaw (13-10) struck out nine in his career-high 32nd appearance and saw his ERA fall to 2.91. His career-best ERA is 2.79 last year.
"I didn't have too many hard innings, " Kershaw said. "Not walking guys helped and they were hitting some balls right at people."
Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he had planned to shorten Kershaw's outing to 90 pitches, but that Kershaw, who threw 102, wasn't pressured.
"He was very special. He dominated right from the get-go," Torre said.
Trent Oeltjen's two-out triple in the third inning gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. Andre Ethier tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jay Gibbons in the fourth. Reed Johnson made it 3-0 with a home run in the eighth.
The Diamondbacks scored in the ninth on a leadoff single by Chris Young and Tony Abreu's double. Reliever Kenley Jansen struck out the final two batters with runners on first and second for his second save.
Barry Enright (6-6) allowed five hits and two runs over eight innings. It was Enright's best start in more than three weeks but he lost his fourth straight game.
"Great stuff. Very sneaky. He was throwing hard but even harder to pick up," Diamondbacks interim manager Kirk Gibson said of Enright's stuff. "Nothing to hang your head about there."
Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp, who didn't start, raised his streak of consecutive games to 196 when he appeared as a pinch-hitter for Oeltjen in the eighth and remained in the game in center field. Kemp is the only Dodger to have appeared in all 154 of the team's games this season and has the longest active consecutive games streak in the majors.
"I asked him if it was important for him, and it was," Torre said of Kemp. "So that was good enough for me."
Game notes
Diamondbacks 3B Mark Reynolds aggravated a thumb injury and was taken out of the game after seven innings. ... While Gibson was talking to reporters before the game, hitting coach Jack Howell peeked into Gibson's office and asked, jokingly, "Do you know, will the coaches be coming back?" The Diamondbacks could overhaul their coaching staff with new GM Kevin Towers in place. Asked about any lack of fight in the Dodgers as the season winds down, Torre defended his players. "If we had more fight left in the club, we'd be playoff contenders," Torre said. "We haven't been good enough. I certainly can't criticize our club for their energy or going after it. We're just a little short right now." ...Torre was asked about former pitcher David Wells' critical comments of him, made Thursday. Wells said he didn't like Torre and called him a coward. "I just feel badly that David felt he was being picked on or not being treated fairly," Torre said. "I saw him in New York last week and he shook my hand."
Series de Temporada Regular
Posiciones Oeste 2024
EQUIPO | O | P | % | GB | RACHA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles | 12 | 9 | .571 | 0 | P1 |
San Diego | 11 | 10 | .524 | 1 | P1 |
San Francisco | 9 | 11 | .450 | 2.5 | G2 |
Arizona | 9 | 11 | .450 | 2.5 | P2 |
Colorado | 4 | 15 | .211 | 7 | P5 |
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