Clayton Kershaw gave his second straight fantastic performance, and the Dodgers beat the Padres for the second straight day, 4-1. The Dodgers are now three games back of the Padres in the NL West.
Friday night's game last quite awhile, but this one flew right by thanks to Kershaw. He finished the night with seven innings pitched, three hits, one run, two walks, and seven strikeouts. Combined with his eight innings of shutout ball against the Rockies in his last start, and he's lowered his ERA from 4.99 to 3.55.
The Padres scored their lone run of the game in the first. Scott Hairston walked and David Eckstein singled to lead off. After a groundout by Adrian Gonzalez got Hairston to third, he scored on Chase Headley's RBI groundout.
James Loney immediately got that run back by hitting a solo shot to start the second. Both teams went scoreless the next three innings.
In the fifth, Casey Blake led off with a walk. An out later, he went to second on Kevin Correia's wild pickoff attempt. Jamey Carroll got another start at short and delivered again, this time an RBI single to go up 2-1. Following a Kershaw sacrifice bunt, Carroll scored on Russell Martin's single.
The last run was tacked on in the sixth. It came from Garret Anderson, who's someone that desperately needs to make something happen. Loney walked and stole second with one down. Anderson then laced a triple to right, putting the Dodgers up 4-1. Anderson still only has a pathetic .143 average, but at least he did something positive tonight.
The rest of the game was cruise control for Kershaw and the bullpen. Ramon Troncoso entered in the eighth, and he made quick work of the Padres with a couple of strikeouts and a flyout.
Jonathan Broxton got a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save. After blowing a save against the Brewers on May 6, he's a perfect 5-for-5 in save opportunities, while not giving up a run.
This game signifies how the Dodgers have turned things around the last couple of weeks. They got great starting pitching, timely hitting, and committed no errors. They only put seven men on base all night, but scored four of them. Plus they won tonight without Andre Ethier, and Manny Ramirez went 0-for-4.
Speaking of Ethier, he missed the game with a jammed little finger on his right hand. He's listed as day-to-day, so hopefully that means it won't be a DL trip. Time will tell.
The Dodgers will go for the sweep on Sunday. Chad Billingsley is going for his second straight win, and he'll be opposed by Wade LeBlanc.
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