Los Angeles

Clayton Kershaw, Adrian Gonzalez KO the Braves, 8-0

Clayton Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings and Adrian Gonzalez reached an RBI milestone as the Dodgers defeated the Braves 8-0.

Clayton Kershaw returned to his Cy Young Award winning form and Adrian Gonzalez reached an RBI milestone as the Dodgers knocked out the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday 8-0.

Kershaw (3-3) was dominant on the day retiring the first 12 batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single to Nick Markakis in the fifth inning. Kershaw allowed no runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts in seven shutout innings.

"That's the difference in the ballgame," Kershaw said of his ability to work out of multiple jams throughout the game. "You have to pitch out of jam's as a starter. I didn't give up any runs tonight so I guess I had better execution."

The Dodgers blew the roof off the joint in the bottom of the fourth inning. Howie Kendrick, Justin Turner, Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis all hit RBI doubles as the Boys in Blue batted around for their most productive inning of the season.

Kendrick finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI as he had his team-high 17th multi-hit game of the year.

"We had a lot of good at-bats tonight and were able to put pitches we could hit in play and they fell onto the grass," Kendrick said.

Los Angeles has lived by the long ball for most of the season, but they were able to manufacture a big inning thanks to singles, doubles and walks. In all, nine consecutive batters reached base safely in the inning.

"We put together a string of good at-bats and quality hits with runners in scoring position," Gonzalez said of the inning. "That's just one of the ways we can put runs together."

Every Dodger starting player including Kershaw had at least one hit in the game and LA's six runs in the fourth inning were the most they scored in any inning this season.

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Kershaw helped his own cause with an RBI single in the monumental fourth inning. It was Kershaw's first RBI of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer to opposite field in the bottom half of the inning. With the blast, Gonzalez picked up his 1000th career RBI making him just the 12th active player to reach the milestone.

"It's a great number," Gonzalez added of the milestone. "1000 RBIs is a great accomplishment, it means you've been in the league for a little while. It's always better to do it at home and it definitely means a lot."

Julio Teheran (4-2) was knocked out in the loss allowing a career high eight runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work.

"He left balls out over the plate, and these guys swing the bat really well," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "They put up a big number in the fourth inning. We didn't get an out for almost five hitters."

Markasis was the only man who could hit Kershaw on Tuesday as the new Braves' outfielder had three of Atlanta's five hits going 3-for-4 with a double in the game.

With the win, the Dodgers earned their seventh shutout of the season, tied for 2nd in the league. They also improved their home series unbeaten streak to 13, the longest active mark in the majors.


Game Notes:
The Dodgers agreed to trade third baseman Juan Uribe to the Braves in exchange for Alberto Callaspo and a starting pitcher. Callaspo was scratched from the Atlanta lineup minutes before the first pitch was recorded. The trade is awaiting the approval of Commissioner Rob Manfred.
 

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