After his teammates ended a scoreless stretch by the Dodgers' ace, Ian Kennedy hopes to continue one of his own against the Diamondbacks' NL West rivals.
Looking to remain undefeated against Los Angeles at Chase Field, Kennedy tries to help the D-backs to a seventh straight home win over the Dodgers on Saturday night.
Clayton Kershaw did not allow a run in 16 innings of his first two starts or through the first three innings Friday before the Diamondbacks (7-3) scored in the fourth and added two more runs charged to him in the eighth for a 3-0 victory.
The D-backs have won three straight and 11 of 13 overall from the Dodgers(6-4).
"If you're going to beat a team like that and a guy like (Kershaw), you have to play perfect, and that's what we did," manager Kirk Gibson said.
The Diamondbacks have won two in a row and six of eight. They'll send Kennedy (1-0, 4.15 ERA) to the mound as he tries to continue his recent success against the Dodgers after Patrick Corbin yielded just three hits and no runs in six innings Friday.
Kennedy has allowed six hits and struck out 13 over 13 2/3 scoreless innings to win his last two starts against the Dodgers. The right-hander has won all three of his home starts against Los Angeles, going at least seven innings in each while posting a 2.11 ERA.
After allowing two runs in seven innings of a 6-2 Opening Day win over the Cardinals Kennedy gave up four in six innings of an 8-7, 11-inning victory in Milwaukee on Sunday.
The Dodgers counter with Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-1, 2.13), who hopes for another strong outing in his third career start. The left-hander lasted 6 1/3 innings in each of his first two outings and gave up a two-run homer in the first and two other hits while striking out six in a 6-2 victory over the Pirates on Sunday.
"Ryu did a good job," center fielder Matt Kemp said. "The first inning was rough, but after that he shut them down. I told him that was all they were going to get from him, and he did what we asked him to do."
The Dodgers were held to six hits and were shut out for the second time Friday, one night after their 3-2 win in San Diego was marred by a brawl that left pitcher Zack Greinke out at least eight weeks with a broken collarbone.
Padres slugger Carlos Quentin, who charged Greinke after being hit with a pitch, was suspended eight games while the Dodgers' erry Hairston Jr. was slapped with one game for their roles in the fight.
Hairston, who is appealing the suspension, went 0 for 5 on Friday and is 1 for 13 in 2013.
Los Angeles left fielder Carl Crawford was batting .424 (14 for 33) heading into the series opener but struck out in a pinch-hitting appearance.
"They kept us down. You kind of hate to waste a performance like that from Kersh, but we weren't able to get anything on the board," manager Don Mattingly said. "It didn't seem like we had a ton of chances, but we had a few chances."
Adrian Gonzalez is 3 for 25 with nine strikeouts in his last six games against the D-backs. He's fanned six times while going 2 for 16 against Kennedy.
