• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Dodgers turn to Kershaw against Padres

Sep 8, 2014 - 2:55 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Clayton Kershaw appears headed toward a second straight Cy Young Award and the Los Angeles Dodgers ace gets the call Monday in the opener of a three-game series versus the San Diego Padres.

Kershaw is 14-1 in his last 15 decisions and has won three straight starts. He is aiming to become the majors' first 18-game winner and hurled eight innings of one-run, three-hit ball in last Tuesday's 4-1 victory over Washington.

The crafty left-hander is 17-3 with an MLB-best 1.70 earned run average. He also leads the majors with six complete games and has an 8-2 record in 12 home starts. Kershaw is 11-6 with a 2.31 ERA in 23 lifetime starts against the Padres and has faced them twice this season, winning both starts.

Kershaw has gone 9-1 with a 1.72 ERA against NL West foes this season. He was ejected from Sunday's 7-2 win over Arizona after a heated exchange with an umpire during the seventh inning. First-base umpire Laz Diaz tossed Kershaw for yelling from the bench.

Los Angeles pulled off the sweep of the D-backs and is three games ahead of San Francisco for the NL West lead. Adrian Gonzalez homered twice and finished with six RBI and Matt Kemp went deep for the Dodgers, who have won 10 of their last 15 games and are 4-2 on a nine-game homestand.

"I'm just trying to get quality at-bats," said Gonzalez. "It's about winning games."

Kemp is riding a 13-game hitting streak and followed Gonzalez's blast in the seventh inning with his 19th home. Andre Ethier was then hit by an Oliver Perez pitch and that led to manager Don Mattingly and Kershaw being ejected.

Yasiel Puig returned to the Dodgers' lineup after missing Saturday's game with a stomach illness, going 0-for-2 with a walk.

Zack Greinke allowed two runs in six innings for his 14th win (14-8).

San Diego looks to put the brakes on a five-game losing streak and was swept in three games at Colorado this weekend. In Sunday's 6-0 loss at Coors Field, Jedd Gyorko had two of the Padres' six hits and Tyson Ross was tagged for three runs in 5 2/3 frames for the loss.

"Offensively, we haven't done much," said Padres manager Bud Black. "Our bats have gone silent."

The Padres, who will also visit Arizona on this nine-game trip, have been shut out twice in the last three games and have scored only eight runs in the previous five contests.

Taking the mound for the Friars Monday will be Odrisamer Despaigne. Despaigne is 3-5 with a 3.06 ERA and winless (0-2) in his last four outings. He threw seven innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 win over Arizona last Tuesday for a no- decision and has yielded just two runs in his last two starts.

Despaigne is 1-4 in six road starts and lost to the Dodgers on July 10, when he allowed two runs in seven innings of a 2-1 setback at Chavez Ravine.

LA is 10-6 against San Diego this season with a 5-2 mark as the host.