PHOENIX - Patrick Corbin didn't earn a spot in the Arizona rotation until a couple of days before the season started. He was sent up to the majors and back to the minors three times last season.
He's had his struggles but, boy, he sure can pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The young left-hander gave up three hits in six innings and the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers in Arizona for the sixth time in a row, 3-0 on Friday night.
Corbin got the best of a far better known lefty, Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw, who ran his scoreless innings streak to 19 to start the season before the Diamondbacks scratched one across in the fourth inning. Arizona got two more in the eighth.
"I knew coming in that it was going to be tough for us getting runs," Corbin said, "so I knew I had to go out there and put up some zeros."
Corbin is 2-1 with a save against the Dodgers, giving up three runs in 20 1-3 innings (1.33 ERA).
"He was throwing the ball really well," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "He had great command and it helped us going down the road in our bullpen in extra innings. He was solid the whole game and threw the ball very well. He was up against a great pitcher in Kershaw and matched him pitch for pitch."
Corbin (2-0) struck out four, walked three and hit a batter, but kept the Dodgers at bay, then Brad Ziegler and David Hernandez each pitched a scoreless frame before J.J. Putz finished off the shutout for his second save in three tries.
Kershaw (2-1) struck out nine, leaving him one shy of 1,000 for his career, but left trailing 1-0 after the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning. Reliever Shawn Tolleson walked both batters he faced to bring in two runs.
Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, the first run allowed by Kershaw in 20 innings to start the season.
Kershaw was charged with three runs on six hits in 7 1-3 innings as the Dodgers dropped the series opener a night after their bench-clearing brawl in San Diego resulted in an injury that will sideline starter Zack Greinke for eight weeks. Kershaw walked three after walking just one in 16 innings in his first two starts.
"It was a battle for me," Kershaw said. "After the first inning I really didn't have a breaking ball. I just couldn't find the rhythm with it. I was basically pitching with a fastball for most of the night, which obviously makes it difficult."
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly couldn't find much fault with Kershaw's performance. It was the Los Angeles offence that again failed to come through when opportunities presented themselves. Los Angeles stranded 10 runners and was 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.
"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," Mattingly said. "It didn't seem like we had a ton of chances, but we had a few chances."
A perfectly executed hit-and-run got Arizona on the board in the fourth. Gerardo Parra singled, then took off for second as Martin Prado batted. Prado hit the ball right where shortstop Justin Sellers was before he went to cover second. That left runners at first and third with one out, and Prado scored when Goldschmidt grounded into a double play to make it 1-0.
"That is not an easy task against Kershaw," Gibson said of Prado's hit-and-run at bat. "The ball is up, it is hard to sit back against the guy. ... Just trying to make something of an opportunity and he got the job done."
It stayed 1-0 until the Arizona eighth, when Jason Kubel's pinch-hit single off the glove of the diving Matt Kemp in centre, a bunt base hit by A.J. Pollock and a walk to Gerardo Parra loaded the bases and ended the night for Kershaw.
Tolleson, just brought up from Triple-A Albuquerque when Greinke went on the disabled list earlier in the day, relieved Kershaw and walked Prado and Goldschmidt to put Arizona up 3-0.
In the eighth, Los Angeles got runners on first and third with one out. Kemp singled with one out and took third when Adrian Gonzalez walked on a wild pitch. But Hernandez struck out Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier grounded to first to end the inning.
In the ninth, Putz struck out Ellis but Nick Punto singled and Skip Schumaker walked. Jerry Hairston bounced one up the middle that the second baseman Wilson gloved, tossed to Pennington with his glove hand, and the relay to first was in time for the game-ending double play.
Kershaw's scoreless start to the season was the longest for the Dodgers since Jim Gott went 19 1-3 innings in 1993. Kershaw's scoreless streak stretched to 23 innings dating to last season, establishing a career high.
NOTES: The Diamondbacks send RH Ian Kennedy (2-0, 4.15 ERA) to the mound Saturday night against the Dodgers' left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-1, 2.13). ... LH Ted Lilly, on the DL recovering from left shoulder surgery, threw a bullpen session Friday. He and LH Chris Capuano are candidates to take Greinke's spot in the Los Angeles rotation. ... Gibson says OF Cody Ross, rehabbing at Triple-A Reno from a calf injury, could be ready for the road series against the New York Yankees that starts next Tuesday. ... Diamondbacks 2B Aaron Hill was a late scratch in what was described as a precautionary move after he was hit in the left hand by a pitch on Wednesday night.
