Clayton Kershaw will try to pitch the Los Angeles Dodgers to a three-game sweep of the NL West-rival Colorado Rockies Wednesday night at Chavez Ravine.
Dodgers starters Hyun-Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke both threw six innings of one- run ball to set up the sweep chance for Kershaw, who has won his last three starts and is 6-2 with a 2.93 earned run average on the season.
Kershaw has allowed one run in each of his past two outings and held Arizona to a run in seven innings of last Friday's 4-3 victory. The left-hander struck out seven and has fanned that many in each of his previous five appearances.
In a 6-1 rain-shortened win at Colorado on June 8, Kershaw lasted five innings and permitted the lone run with nine K's and no walks. He has walked only one batter in his past three trips to the hill and is 11-5 with a 3.54 ERA in 24 career starts against the Rockies.
Los Angeles won for the seventh time in 10 tries with Tuesday's 4-2 victory, as Greinke and four relievers held the Rockies in check.
"It definitely feels good," Greinke said of his start. "You leave everything you have out there."
Greinke tied Cincinnati's Alfredo Simon and St. Louis' Adam Wainwright for the National League wins lead with nine. Kenley Jansen picked up with 20th save despite allowing two hits in the ninth.
Matt Kemp and Carlos Triunfel each hit solo homers and Hanley Ramirez added a two-run shot before leaving the game with an injured finger. Ramirez sustained an injured right ring finger in the top of the seventh inning after taking a one-hopper off his bare hand. He is day-to-day and tweeted afterward that his finger is "OK."
Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, one night after finishing 4-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored
The Dodgers are 4-1 on a six-game homestand and will visit San Diego and Kansas City next for a total of six games.
Colorado has dropped two in a row since winning five straight, and couldn't get anything going offensively with Jhoulys Chacin on the hill. Chacin fell to 1-5 on the year and gave up three runs in six innings.
Troy Tulowitzki and Corey Dickerson had three hits apiece, with Tulowitzki scoring a run and Dickerson driving one in.
"I thought he battled," Dickerson said of Chacin. "He had a great tempo. I wish we could get some more runs there to supporting, but he kept us close."
Tulowitzki leads the majors with a .361 batting average.
The Rockies opened their six-game trip with a three-game sweep of San Francisco, and will return home tonight for six games in row versus Milwaukee and St. Louis.
In other team news, Rockies pitcher Nick Masset was suspended three games and received an undisclosed fine for intentionally throwing a pitch at Atlanta's Evan Gattis in a June 12 game.
Hoping to salvage this LA series for the Rockies Wednesday will be Jorge De La Rosa. De La Rosa is 6-5 with a 4.12 earned run average and winless (0-2) in his previous three appearances. He lasted only three innings in last Friday's 7-4 win at the Giants because of back tightness and allowed two runs and five hits.
De La Rosa, who won six straight decisions from late April till the end of May, is only 3-9 with a 5.74 ERA in 18 lifetime matchups (14 starts) with the Dodgers. The southpaw is 1-1 in two starts against them this season.
The Dodgers won two of three games in Colorado earlier this month.
[SportsNetwork.com]
