LOS ANGELES – Adam Dunn hit a pair of three-run homers off Clayton Kershaw, tying a career high for RBIs, and the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on Friday night.
John Lannan (3-5) allowed three runs and five hits over six innings in his second start since returning from a six-week stint with Double-A Harrisburg. It was the left-hander's first victory with the big league club since May 28 at San Diego.
Drew Storen pitched a hitless ninth for his first major league save and the Nationals' second since trading closer Matt Capps to Minnesota on July 30.
Kershaw (10-7) allowed seven hits in six innings and struck out nine. The 22-year-old lefty gave up two homers in a game for the fourth time in 74 major league starts, and first since April 26, 2009, at Colorado. He came in with an opponents' batting average of .197 in home games since the start of the 2009 season, lowest in the majors.
The Nationals got the jump on Kershaw in the first when Dunn pulled a 3-2 pitch an estimated 460 feet and just inside the right-field foul pole after a single by Ian Desmond and a walk to Ryan Zimmerman.
Two innings later, Desmond drew a leadoff walk, Zimmerman singled and Dunn pulled an 0-1 delivery off the bottom of the screen attached to the pole for his 30th homer and 29th career multihomer game. Dunn's other six-RBI game was on May 24, 2009, when he hit two homers against Baltimore — including a go-ahead grand slam.
Dunn, the only left-handed bat in the Nats' starting lineup besides Lannan, has five multihomer games this year and a league-best 60 extra-base hits. It's his seventh consecutive season with 30 or more homers.
The Dodgers sliced the deficit to 6-3 in the fourth. Ryan Theriot reached on a leadoff single before Andre Ethier connected for his 18th homer. Casey Blake added an RBI single after James Loney walked and advanced on a passed ball by 13-time Gold Glove winner Ivan Rodriguez.
The Nationals had a chance to score in the sixth, but Josh Willingham played it safe on Alberto Gonzalez's one-out fly ball to right fielder Ethier with two men in scoring position and the pitcher on deck. Kershaw then struck out Lannan.
NOTES: Nationals assistant trainer Mike McGowen was struck on the right cheek by an overthrown ball that knocked him to the dugout floor during warmups before the bottom of the first inning. He then was led away to the clubhouse. ... Nationals drawing card Stephen Strasburg, scheduled to return to the rotation on Tuesday after missing three turns because of stiffness in his right shoulder, will have a pitch limit of 90 against the Florida Marlins. ... The Nationals selected the contract of OF Kevin Mench from Triple-A Syracuse, a day after CF Nyjer Morgan was put on the 15-day disabled list because of a sore right hip. ... The Dodgers and their Double-A Chattanooga club in the Southern League extended their player development contract through the 2014 season.
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