NL West Exilir To Dodgers Woes, Kershaw Blanks Rockies, 6-0

Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-0 win over the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series.

Kershaw (11-7) allowed five hits and recorded six strikeouts for the Dodgers, who halted a two-game skid and won for only the second time in their last seven games overall.

"My stuff is alright, being aggressive was the main thing," Kershaw said. "I felt good after seven. I never want to come out of a game, but it's not my decision. The guys were swinging the bats and it worked out for us."

Scott Podsednik and James Loney both drove in two runs. The Dodgers are seven games behind the Phillies in the NL wild card race.

Rockies starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin (5-9) was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs earlier Tuesday and allowed five runs on five hits with four strikeouts and five walks over five innings of work.

Eric Young and Dexter Fowler had two hits for the inconsistent Rockies, who have alternated wins and losses throughout the month of August thus far.

"We had situational hitting in the first, third and fifth innings, and they all got away from us," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "What hurt Jhoulys was his fastball command. It came down to one inning of offense for them, none for us."

Colorado is now six games off the pace in the wild card chase.

The Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but Casey Blake struck out and Matt Kemp flied out to center field to end the inning.

In the home fifth, LA opened the scoring. Jamey Carroll drew a leadoff walk and moved to third when A.J. Ellis singled. After Kershaw's bunt advanced Ellis to second base, Podsednik doubled to deep left field for a 2-0 lead. Andre Ethier walked with two outs before Loney ripped another two-run double, this one to right-center field. Blake's run-scoring single made it 5-0.

Kershaw pitched a 1-2-3 sixth and worked a scoreless seventh before Kenley Jansen started on the mound in the eighth for the Dodgers. Jansen and southpaw George Sherrill combined to keep the Rockies off the scoreboard.

LA added a run in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded, Rockies reliever Randy Flores picked up a grounder hit back to the mound by Ronnie Belliard, but his throwing error allowed Blake to cross the plate.

Jonathan Broxton pitched the ninth for LA.

Game Notes

Kershaw improved to 5-3 in 11 career starts against the Rockies. He has also pitched 26 straight scoreless innings at home against Colorado...The Dodgers improved to 37-24 at Chavez Ravine this season...Loney has 72 RBI this season...The Rockies went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.