Dodgers 3 - 1 Diamondbacks
Final
  for this game

Dodgers hand ace Kershaw ball against D-backs

Aug 27, 2014 - 2:30 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Clayton Kershaw eyes his major league-best 16th win of the season on Wednesday when the Los Angeles Dodgers close out a brief two- game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Kershaw bounced back from a rare loss with another stellar showing on Thursday against San Diego, as he held the Padres to just a run and three hits over eight innings, while striking out 10 to improve to 15-3 on the year to go along with an MLB-best 1.82 ERA.

Despite missing a month of the season with a back injury, Kershaw is tied for the NL lead in wins and leads in ERA, complete games (six) and WHIP (0.83). However, he had perhaps the worst outing of his big league career at Chase Field back on May 17 when the D-backs hit him for seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings.

Since that start, Kershaw is 13-2 with a 1.37 ERA.

"He just moves on. He just pushes forward," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Same way after the St. Louis game (a 9-0 Cardinals win in Game 6 of the 2013 NLCS), you know it bothered him, but more than anything he just pushes forward. He approaches it the same way as a good start. The next day, he's working toward the next start. It's pretty clear-cut for him, good or bad."

Kershaw is 9-7 lifetime versus Arizona with a 2.61 ERA in 20 starts.

Arizona will hand the ball to lefty Wade Miley, who is 7-9 with a 4.29 ERA. Miley did not get a decision on Thursday in Washington, despite tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings. However, he allowed eight hits and walked six batters in his team's 1-0 loss.

Miley, who has a 1.83 ERA in his last three starts, has faced the Dodgers 12 times (11 starts) and is 3-4 with a 4.13 ERA.

Los Angeles won the opener on Tuesday, as Matt Kemp hit an early two-run homer and the Dodgers pulled away with a six-run fourth inning en route to a 9-5 victory. Justin Turner had two hits, two runs driven in and another run scored, while Dee Gordon went 3-for-5 with an RBI for LA, which has won four of its last five overall.

Roberto Hernandez (8-9) tossed six quality innings and also drove in a run in his fourth start in Dodgers blue.

"I thought he was ok, I don't think he was as sharp as the first time we've seen him," said Mattingly about Hernandez. "He seemed to get behind in the count, but had a kind of 'bend-don't-break' thing going on today."

Ender Inciarte knocked in three runs for Arizona, which has dropped eight of 10.

Trevor Cahill (3-9) came in 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA in four August starts but failed to make it out of the fourth in this one. He was charged with eight runs -- six earned -- on six hits and three walks.

"Wasn't his best performance tonight," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson about Cahill. "It's one game, but it wasn't a very good performance. He'll tell you the same thing."

Los Angeles has won 11 of its 15 matchups with the Diamondbacks this season.






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