Padres 7, Dodgers 2
LOS ANGELES -- The San Diego Padres tagged Clayton Kershaw for three home runs and dealt the Los Angeles Dodgers their fourth consecutive loss, 7-2, Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly shuffled the lineup to try to resuscitate an offense that has gone ice cold recently, hoping to give Kershaw some more run support.
Out went Matt Kemp, slumping with a .185 average and zero home runs. In came Skip Schumaker to center field and the No. 6 hole, and up went Andre Ethier to the No. 3 spot.
It didn't help. Kershaw would have needed a whole lot more than he got.
The Dodgers' star was roughed up for the first time this season, dampening the night he became the second-youngest Dodger pitcher to break the 1,000-strikeout plateau.
Kershaw, who opened the 2013 season with 16 straight scoreless innings, took his second straight loss as he allowed five runs, three earned, and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
With Chase Headley in the lineup for the first time this year after a fractured thumb cost him a month, the Padres (5-10) continued their offensive awakening. San Diego rang up the Dodgers (7-8) for 22 runs in the three-game sweep after scoring just 32 runs in its first 12 games.
That was more than enough support for Tyson Ross and Co., who scattered 10 hits. Ross went 4 2/3 innings and allowed six hits and one earned run. Brad Brach picked up the win after throwing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
By the time Kyle Blanks blasted a home run to deep left field with one out in the top of the sixth inning, the Dodgers had long discovered Kershaw was in subpar form.
San Diego pounced on Kershaw in the top of the fourth inning after Adrian Gonzalez staked Los Angeles to a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly in the third inning.
Everth Cabrera hit the first of three home runs off Kershaw, Jedd Gyorko grounded into a double play that scored Headley, and Blanks singled to score Jesus Guzman. Chris Denorfia added a solo home run in the fifth inning to put the Padres ahead 4-1.
NOTES: The Padres swept a three-game series against the Dodgers for the first time since September 2010. San Diego's five-game winning streak at Dodger Stadium dating to last season is its longest such streak since 2006. ... Los Angeles won two of three games in San Diego in the teams' first series of the season last week. The Dodgers closed the series with back-to-back one-run wins after dropping the opener 9-3. ... Headley was a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner in 2012, and he finished fifth in National League MVP voting. ... The Padres placed Cameron Maybin (wrist) on the 15-day disabled list to make room for Headley. ... Dodgers left fielder Carl Crawford led the National League with 20 hits entering the game. ... Kershaw's 1,000th strikeout came 29 days after his 25th birthday. Fernando Valenzuela hit the mark at 24 years, 303 days.
