Clayton Kershaw went five strong innings to move into a tie for second place on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ all-time win list while helping to pull off another August victory, this one 9-1 Tuesday over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
Kershaw (12-4) gave up one run on three hits over five innings and matched Don Drysdale with his 209th career win. Don Sutton is the franchise leader with 233 wins.
The Dodgers improved to 23-4 in August to tie for the third-most wins in a month in franchise history.
Mookie Betts set a career high with his 36th home run and Will Smith also went deep as Los Angeles has six home runs in the first two games of the series. Chris Taylor reached base four times for the Dodgers on three hits and a walk.
Corbin Carroll hit a home run for the Diamondbacks, while Merrill Kelly’s struggles against the Dodgers continued as he gave up seven runs on 12 hits over five innings. Kelly dropped to 0-11 against Los Angeles in 16 starts with a 5.49 ERA.
The Diamondbacks lost the first two games of the series after entering with 10 wins in their previous 12 games. The Dodgers wrapped up the season series at 7-5 with one more game remaining Wednesday.
The Dodgers jumped in front 3-0 in the first inning on an RBI double from David Peralta and a two-run double from Jason Heyward. It became 4-0 in the second inning on an RBI single from Miguel Rojas.
Peralta had an RBI single in the third and had three hits in the game. Three batters later, a Taylor double gave the Dodgers a 6-0 lead.
Carroll’s 23rd home run for Arizona came in the fifth inning off Kershaw.
James Outman added a sacrifice fly for a Dodgers run in the fifth, while Betts and Smith hit their home runs in the sixth. Betts has hit 71 of his 249 career home runs in the past two seasons.
–Field Level Media
