Kershaw's 1st Win
Clayton Kershaw outpitched Jason Bergmann for his first major league victory and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 2-0 on Sunday.
In a matchup of pitchers who were winless in their previous 20 starts combined, Kershaw (1-3) prevailed, allowing four hits in six-plus innings less than 24 hours after Derek Lowe held the lowest-scoring team in the majors to one hit over eight innings.
The 20-year-old left-hander was winless in his first nine big league starts with a 5.18 ERA. Chan Ho Park and Hong-Chih Kuo each pitched an inning of relief and Jonathan Broxton completed the combined five-hitter, with a perfect ninth for his fourth save since taking over the closer role for the injured Takashi Saito.
It was Kershaw's second outing since being recalled from Double-A Jacksonville on July 22, and his longest with the Dodgers.
James Loney homered for the Dodgers (52-52), who completed a three-game sweep and climbed back to the .500 mark for the first time since May 30.
The Nationals, whose 38-68 record is the worst in baseball, have dropped 15 of their last 19 overall and nine straight at Dodger Stadium since May 4, 2005.
Bergmann (1-8) allowed two runs and six hits over six innings, struck out five and walked three. The right-hander is 0-7 with a 3.24 ERA in 12 starts since beating the New York Mets 7-0 on May 15 at Shea Stadium with seven innings of three-hit ball. He has lost his last six starts on the road.
Loney led off the second inning with his ninth homer and Russell Martin added a two-out RBI single in the fifth.
Felipe Lopez made his second straight start at shortstop for Washington in place of All-Star Cristian Guzman, who is sidelined because of a bruised left thumb.
The Nationals, who have scored a major league-low 388 runs, were undermined by a pair of unconventional double plays en route to their 15th shutout loss of the season and third in four games.
Bergmann, who does not have a sacrifice bunt all season, tried to advance Wil Nieves in the third inning and Kershaw started a 1-6-3 double play. In the fifth, Lastings Milledge tried to go from first to third on Paul Lo Duca's groundout to third baseman Casey Blake in the hole, but was tagged out by shortstop Nomar Garciaparra as Blake ducked out of the way of Loney's throw back across the diamond.
Dodgers cleanup hitter Jeff Kent, who needs seven RBIs to tie Mickey Mantle for 47th place on the career list, stranded Matt Kemp at third base in the first and third innings and flied out to the warning track twice. Kemp had a pair of singles to extend his career-best hitting streak to 14 games.
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