LOS ANGELES – Clayton Kershaw pitched seven strong innings against a team he continues to dominate at home and the Los Angeles Dodgers returned from a humiliating road trip with a 6-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.
Kershaw (11-7) allowed five hits, struck out six and walked three. The 22-year-old left-hander has not allowed a run against the Rockies in the last 26 innings he's pitched against them at Dodger Stadium.
Scott Podsednik and James Loney had two-run doubles during a five-run fifth.
The Dodgers' beleaguered bullpen blew ninth-inning leads twice during a 2-5 trip through Philadelphia and Atlanta in which Joe Torre took the closer's role away from All-Star Jonathan Broxton following a backbreaking 10-9 defeat.
Los Angeles remains 11 games behind San Diego with 42 remaining.
On May 9, Kershaw held them to just two hits over eight innings in a 2-0 win. In his final regular-season start last year, he pitched six scoreless innings in a no-decision as the Dodgers won 5-0 to clinch their second straight NL West title.
Jhoulys Chacin (5-9) pitched five innings, allowing five runs and five hits in his 14th big league start. The 22-year-old right-hander, returning to the Rockies' rotation because of injuries to Jeff Francis and Aaron Cook, was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs to fill the roster spot that became available when right-hander Taylor Buchholz was put on the 15-day disabled list because of lower back stiffness.
Chacin was 5-5 with a 3.64 ERA in 12 starts from May 2 through July 2, then was sent to the bullpen when Jorge De La Rosa came off the disabled list after missing more than two months because of a torn tendon in his left middle finger. One of Chacin's starts was at Dodger Stadium on May 8, where he pitched 7 1-3 innings in an 8-0 win. He made six appearances in relief before being optioned to the minors on July 24.
Kershaw and Chacin matched zeros until the fifth. Jamey Carroll drew a leadoff walk for the Dodgers and took third on a hit-and-run single by A.J. Ellis, who was sacrificed to second by Kershaw as Carroll held up. Podsednik, who had only three RBIs in his first 75 at-bats since joining the club in a trade from Kansas City on July 28, doubled over Ryan Spilborgh's outstretched glove in the left field corner to score both runners.
One out later, Andre Ethier walked and Loney came through with his two-run double to right-center. Casey Blake capped the rally with an RBI single.
The Dodgers didn't get a hit until the fourth, when Ethier followed a one-out walk to Ryan Theriot with a single that put runners at the corners. Another walk to Loney loaded the bases for Blake, who struck out and is now 1 for 10 this season in bases-loaded situations. Chacin then retired Matt Kemp on a flyball.
NOTES: Kershaw, who hasn't pitched a 1-2-3 first inning in any of his 25 starts this season, walked Eric Young to open the game before stranding him at third. ... Dodgers executive Don Newcombe, who was relieved by Ralph Branca before Bobby Thomson's fateful home run that gave the New York Giants the NL pennant in 1951, took time to acknowledge Thomson's place in baseball lore. "That home run wasn't only meaningful for Bobby Thomson and the Giants and for the City of New York. It was meaningful for baseball, and something that people remembered all the years that Bobby was on this Earth, from the time he hit it until the time he passed away," Newcombe said. "Bobby was a great ballplayer. And I think if anybody had a chance to enjoy the fame that he enjoyed, I'm glad it was Bobby Thomson."
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