Dodgers count on Kershaw to be stopper again

LOS ANGELES -- Freshly recovered from a lower back strain, Clayton Kershaw once again will pile the weight of the Los Angeles Dodgers' hopes and dreams upon his sturdy frame.

Kershaw will take the mound Thursday against the Colorado Rockies, pitching not only for a first-place club, but for a division leader that has been far from the dominating force it was during the first four months of the season.

Actually, the Dodgers (92-47) have been downright awful of late, losing 11 of their past 12 games, including the past six in a row, a season-worst skid. The Arizona Diamondbacks just completed a three-game sweep of the Dodgers on Wednesday to go with the three-game sweep of Los Angeles last week.

The one victory in the Dodgers' past 12 games ended a five-game losing streak, when Kershaw returned from the disabled list and fired six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits at San Diego on Friday. The Padres never hit the ball out of the infield against him in a 1-0 Los Angeles victory.

"You never truly know until you get back on a big-league mound and get big-league hitters out," Kershaw said after the game. "So (that) was definitely a good step in the right direction."

The Dodgers have lost 10 1/2 games off their National League West lead in 12 days, but they still have a 10 1/2-game lead with just over three weeks remaining.

"The last game we won was when Clayton took the mound," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I know our only focus now is that we have to turn the page on this series and figure out a way to win a game (Thursday)."

Even in a season in which they had been considered one of the best Dodgers teams in history, winning 90 games before the calendar flipped to September, the club still must lean hard and heavy on its ace.

It was hard not to be impressed Friday with the effort from Kershaw (16-2, 1.95 ERA).

"It's nice to have him back, and feeling healthy," veteran Chase Utley said. "He looked like he really didn't skip a beat, to be honest with you."

The Rockies do not figure to take Kershaw lightly, even though he just missed 5 1/2 weeks of action. Kershaw's four starts against the Rockies this season are his most against any team, and he is 3-1 with a 2.77 ERA over 26 innings.

In 35 career starts against Colorado, Kershaw is 21-6 with a 3.05 ERA, and the Rockies were the victim of the lefty's lone no-hitter, in June 2014.

Tasked with matching Kershaw on Thursday will be Rockies right-hander Jon Gray (6-4, 4.26 ERA), who was the losing pitcher in two of his past three starts.

In his most recent outing, Saturday at home against Arizona, he gave up three runs on five hits over five innings. The runs all came on a first-inning homer from J.D. Martinez.

The Dodgers can sympathize. Martinez hit four home runs against the Dodgers in the Monday game alone, becoming the 18th player to accomplish the feat.

Gray, who has struggled with tempo early in starts, said he was out of sorts early against the Diamondbacks, but he corrected the problem later. He hopes to take that progress into Los Angeles, where he struck out 10 batters in a 2016 start.

"Everything started to come together at the end a little bit. Even my feel just got better," Gray said after his Saturday outing, according to MLB.com. "(I) threw some good curveballs, we mixed well, threw some good heaters in, and it seemed like things were rolling again. ... But it was just too late."

Gray has faced the Dodgers once this season, giving up one run on four hits over 5 1/3 innings of an April 8 no-decision. He is just 2/3 against Los Angeles in his career over seven starts, producing a solid 3.75 ERA in 36 innings.