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Jul 18, 2015 - 4:40 AM Nationals Park isn't the only thing that can be lights-out at times.

Over each of the last four seasons, Clayton Kershaw has also pitched like that after the All-Star break, and the left-hander gets a chance to leave a disappointing first half of the season behind starting with Saturday's matinée at Washington following the completion of Friday night's suspended game.

Though the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner has pitched well at times, Kershaw (6-6, 2.85 ERA) barely resembled his dominant 2014 form in matching a career high for losses prior to the All-Star break. As a late replacement for Max Scherzer to represent the National League, it almost seemed fitting Kershaw took the loss in Tuesday's Midsummer Classic at Cincinnati by allowing two runs in the fifth.

''It was fun, except for giving up the runs,'' he said. ''I felt fine. I wasn't really throwing the ball where I wanted to.''

Since 2011, though, Kershaw has thrown the ball everywhere he's wanted after the season resumes. The left-hander is 38-9 with a 1.70 ERA in 55 starts post All-Star break in that span, averaging 9.33 strikeouts per nine innings and compiling a 0.92 WHIP. En route to his most recent Cy Young Award last year, Kershaw went 10-1 with a 1.76 ERA in 13 starts and struck out 113 in 102 innings as the Dodgers (51-39) won a second straight NL West title.

His one inning in Cincinnati aside, Kershaw appeared to be his usual self heading into the break - he threw an eight-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts against Philadelphia on July 8 for his first complete game of the year and limited the New York Mets to one run in seven innings before leaving without a decision in a 2-1 defeat July 3.

Kershaw also has dominated the Nationals of late, winning five straight starts with a 1.16 ERA and holding them to a .157 batting average. He conceded one run over 15 innings while striking out 17 in two victories in 2014.

In what will be the marquee matchup, Bryce Harper's lone hit in six at-bats against him was a solo homer, but Kershaw has struck him out three times.

Friday night's series opener was delayed twice for a total of 2 hours and 2 minutes due to a bank of lights going dark on the third base side. After the second delay, Tanner Roark doubled and Yunel Escobar hit a go-ahead homer three pitches later as the Nationals (48-39) took a 3-2 lead, but after the lights dimmed for the third time before the top of the sixth, the umpires decided to suspend the game and resume prior to Saturday's scheduled contest.

''After the first, don't know if anyone quite knew what was going on or how long it would take,'' Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. ''Second time, they felt they kind of knew and said basically if it happened again then we wouldn't finish it.''

Doug Fister (3-4, 4.08) has also had an uneven season when compared to his breakout 16-win 2014 and has gone 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA in four starts since returning last month from a tight forearm. The right-hander did not get a decision July 6 at Cincinnati, where he yielded two runs - one earned - in six innings of a 3-2 defeat.

Like Kershaw, though, Fister saved his best last season for after the break as Washington won the NL East. He went 8-4 with a 1.98 ERA in 13 starts and is 23-12 in such outings over the last three years.

Fister's lone start versus the Dodgers was a 4-1 loss to Kershaw on Sept. 2 when he was reached for four runs and 10 hits in five-plus innings.