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Dodgers-Padres Preview

May 15, 2010 - 6:59 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Los Angeles (18-17) at San Diego (22-13), 8:35 p.m. EDT

Kevin Correia's teammates have provided him the highest average run support in the majors this season.

The San Diego Padres right-hander, though, might need a different kind of support in his next start.

Scheduled to make his first appearance since his brother's sudden death, Correia will try to earn his fifth win in six tries Saturday night against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of five in a row.

Correia's 21-year-old brother, Trevor Brent Correia, died after falling from a 60-foot cliff while hiking off the Santa Barbara, Calif., coastline Saturday, one day before the right-hander was scheduled to make his next start.

The pitcher has been on the league's bereavement list since Tuesday.

"I think if I was to guess, he's looking forward to getting back on the mound," Black said.

Correia (4-2, 3.97 ERA) has won more than four games once in his career, going 12-11 in 2009. That was after going 1-4 with a 5.37 ERA in his first 10 starts in his first season with the Padres.

He's off to a better start this year thanks to the 9.26 runs per outing his teammates have provided him. The NL West-leading Padres (22-13), though, couldn't help Correia outduel major league ERA leader Ubaldo Jimenez in his previous outing.

Correia retired 11 straight during one stretch May 3 against the Colorado Rockies, but they managed three runs and four hits in six-plus innings against him in defeating the Padres 5-2.

The Padres lost the opener of this three-game set Friday with the Dodgers (18-17), a 4-3 defeat that came down to a couple of inches.

With San Diego leading 3-2 in the seventh, Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer just out of the grasp of center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr. and denied the Padres a fourth straight victory.

"I'm glad it slipped out of his glove or whatever it did and ended up being a home run," Kemp said. "It was a big hit for us."

After bouncing back impressively in his last start, Clayton Kershaw (2-2, 3.96) will try to help Los Angeles to its 11th win in 14 games. Kershaw was tagged for seven runs in a loss to Milwaukee on May 4, but beat Jimenez 2-0 on Sunday by scattering two hits over eight innings and striking out nine.

"Every time he goes out there, you know he's capable," manager Joe Torre said. "The kid's special. The indication of that is how he rebounds from disaster, so to speak."

Kershaw is 2-2 with a 3.03 ERA in seven career starts against the Padres but has dropped the past two matchups.

Correia, meanwhile, beat the Dodgers on June 10 by giving up one run and four hits over six innings. He is 3-1 with a 5.08 ERA in seven starts against them.