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Apr 26, 2016 - 6:23 AM There's little room for improvement remaining for Clayton Kershaw, but a strong April could be foreshadowing an even stronger year than the baseball world has come to expect from the dominant left-hander.

April is typically his worst month, yet the Los Angeles Dodgers ace enters Tuesday night's visit from the Miami Marlins and former manager Don Mattingly in form he typically reserves for July.

Kershaw (2-0, 1.50 ERA) entered the season with a career 8-10 record and 3.36 ERA in April, which is roughly a half run higher than his next highest month of May (2.88) and nearly twice that of July (1.78). After giving up a run and 10 hits with 10 strikeouts in eight innings of Thursday's 2-1 10-inning win in Atlanta, he's a strong start away from completing his best April yet.

Even so, he was critical of his latest outing - or at least part of it - as he tries to better a 1.73 ERA from April 2013.

"It was a weird day. You give up a bunch of runs and give up 10 hits - they say you got shelled. If you don't give up a bunch of runs and give up 10 hits, you scattered it," Kershaw told MLB's official website. "It's just a weird deal. You know, five hits in two innings - I just kind of turned the page after that. I really look at it as two games, almost."

Among teams he's faced more than three times, Kershaw's .181 opponent batting average against the Marlins is his best, but it wasn't enough to beat Tom Koehler last season.

Koehler (1-2, 4.80) had two difficult pitching matchups against the Dodgers and might have deserved two wins. He settled for one and a no-decision with three runs and nine hits allowed in 13 innings.

The victory was a 3-2 final against Kershaw on June 27 in Miami with the right-hander giving up two runs in seven innings. It came a month and a half after a 5-3 loss in Los Angeles against Zack Greinke in which Koehler gave up a run and three hits in six innings.

Justin Turner (5 for 9 with a home run and double) and Chase Utley (6 for 15) have hit him well, but Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford and Joc Pederson are a combined 2 for 16.

Koehler earned his first win in Thursday's 5-1 final against Washington, surrendering a run and two hits in five innings. He's been limited to an average of 78.5 pitches in his last two starts and wants to go longer.

"To me, I want to pitch until I can't," Koehler said. "I'll never question a manager's call because he's the one that's got to make those decisions. I respect (Mattingly), and I respect everything he's done since he's been here and in his baseball life. So if he felt that was best for the team, then it was."

The manager made it work in his first game back since his offseason departure from Los Angeles. The Marlins (7-11) opened the series with Monday's 3-2 win as Giancarlo Stanton has homered for a second straight game. They're now trying for their first series win at Dodger Stadium since 2010 - the season before Mattingly took over the Dodgers.

"I look at it differently than just about me," said Mattingly, whose team has won consecutive games following a 2-8 span. "We needed a win. We've been fighting for them."

The Dodgers (12-8) expect to have Crawford off the disabled list after missing 15 games with a back injury, while Miami third baseman Martin Prado will likely be activated from the paternity list.