Dodgers 6 - 4 Diamondbacks
Final
  for this game

LA's Kershaw opens second half in Arizona

Jul 15, 2011 - 3:08 PM (Sports Network) - One of the few first-half bright spots takes the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight when they visit Chase Field to open a three- game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lefty Clayton Kershaw, a 13-game winner in 2010, returns from the All-Star break with a chance at win No. 10 of 2011 in his 20th start.

The 23-year-old, who's 4-1 in seven career starts against Arizona tossed eight shutout innings against the New York Mets in his final pre-break start, allowing five hits and striking out nine in the Dodgers' 6-0 triumph.

He was 3-1 in his final four starts of the first half, tossing a combined 32 innings while allowing just eight earned runs and rattling off strikeout totals of 11, 11, 10 and nine, respectively.

He last faced Arizona on May 13 and was a 4-3 winner after giving up just three hits and striking out 11 in seven scoreless innings.

Los Angeles has not shared Kershaw's overall success and enters the back half of the year in fourth place in the National League West Division, where they trail front-running San Francisco by 11 1/2 games.

The Dodgers did hit the break with four straight victories, however, and are 15-15 in 30 division games.

Arizona, meanwhile, dropped its final two games before the early-week intermission and sits second in the West, trailing the Giants by 3 1/2 games and holding a five-game edge over third-place Colorado.

The Diamondbacks are five games behind Atlanta in the initial stages of the race for the NL wild card berth.

Lefty Joe Saunders gets the call to start and seeks a fourth straight victory in his fifth start since a 5-2 loss to San Francisco on June 15.

He allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings while defeating St. Louis, 4-1, on July 7 and tossed seven innings of two-run ball a start earlier while winning, 4-2, at Oakland.

Saunders is 1-3 in six career starts against the Dodgers.

In the last matchup, against Kershaw on May 13, he gave up three earned runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings of the 4-3 loss.

Arizona is 9-9 in the 18 games he's pitched.

The Dodgers won 13 of 18 versus the Diamondbacks a season ago, but Arizona took two of three in LA in the only meeting between the teams so far this season.






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