LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw pitched 7 1-3 gritty innings to win his third straight start and Garret Anderson delivered the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres Thursday night.
Kershaw (4-2) allowed a run and seven hits, struck out seven and walked two. He has given up no more than two runs in seven of his last eight starts.
Ronald Belisario struck out both batters he faced and Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless ninth for his eighth save in 10 attempts.
Manny Ramirez was out of the Los Angeles Dodgers' starting lineup on Thursday night for the second straight game because of sore little toe on his left foot. The injury occurred while the slugging left fielder was swinging his leg back and forth in the trainer's room, trying to get loose before Wednesday night's 10-5 loss to San Diego, and accidentally made contact with a table.
Kevin Correia (4-4) lost his third straight start, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out four.
Matt Kemp led off the Dodgers' three-run sixth with a broken-bat single and took second on Correia's errant pickoff throw. James Loney's single put runners at the corners, and Kemp scored on Anderson's sacrifice fly. Blake DeWitt was intentionally walked, and Jamey Carroll singled home Loney before DeWitt scored on a wild pitch to Kershaw.
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the in the second on Carroll's sacrifice fly. The Padres tied it in the third when Will Venable bounced a single up the middle through a drawn-in infield to drive in Everth Cabrera.
Kershaw stranded a runner in scoring position in three consecutive innings. The 22-year-old left-hander's critical moment came with two on and none out in the fifth. He fell behind David Eckstein 1-0, then got a visit from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and retired Eckstein on a flyball before striking out Adrian Gonzales for the second time.
Kershaw then threw a 1-2 pitch to Yorvit Torrealba, whose checked swing was upheld on appeal by first base Mike Muchlinski. Honeycutt, manager Joe Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer gave Muchlinski considerable grief from across the field, and Kershaw also showed his frustration over the call after taking several steps toward the dugout. But he threw a called third strike past Torrealba.
Russell Martin, who came in 2 for 17 against Correia, was hitless in two at-bats against him and walked his next time up. But he led off the second against Adam Russell with a double that extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games.
NOTES: Gonzalez, who had a career-high six RBIs in Wednesday's 10-5 win over the Dodgers, was 1 for 3 against Kenshaw and is 3 for 22 lifetime against him. ... Kershaw, who won a 4-1 decision against Correia last Saturday at Petco Park, became the first Dodgers pitcher to beat the same team twice in a span of seven days or less since Brad Penny did it against Colorado on April 26 and May 2, 2008. ... Martin was in the leadoff spot for the 12th straight game. During that stretch, he is 13 for 44 with four walks, six RBIs and nine runs scored.
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