LOS ANGELES - Clayton Kershaw won his ninth consecutive decision, Justin Turner hit a tiebreaking double, and rookie Scott Schebler homered to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.
The Dodgers, kicking off a 10-game homestand following a 7-3 road trip, won for the 16th time in 20 games. They and reduced their magic number to 12 for clinching their second consecutive NL West title.
Kershaw (14-6) yielded a run and three hits over seven innings and struck out five, raising his major league-leading strikeout total to a career-high 264 and lowering his earned-run average to 2.12. The reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner hasn’t lost since June 27 at Miami.
Kershaw is 9-0 with a 2.48 ERA in his last 10 starts against the Rockies, including a no-hitter. His last loss to them was on July 12, 2013.
Schebler ended the scoring in the eighth with a two-run homer, his third in 10 big league games.
Chris Hatcher got three outs for his third save.
Jon Gray (0-1) allowed two runs on six hits and struck out eight in his in his eighth big league start, after seven no-decisions. He came in tied for the major league record of consecutive no-decisions by a starter at the beginning of a major league career, which was set by Angels righty Al Levine.
Turner chased Gray with his run-scoring hit, which came after a two-out walk to Chase Utley and a single by Adrian Gonzalez. Turner is 21 for 49 with 11 doubles and 14 runs batted in in his last 19 games against the Rockies since Sept. 15 of last season.
Carlos Gonzalez drove in Colorado’s run with a first-inning groundout after a one-out walk to DJ Lemahieu and a double by Nolan Arenado, whose 78th extra-base hit tied Toronto’s Josh Donaldson for the major league lead.
Yasmani Grandal tied it in the second with a sacrifice fly, after rookie Corey Seager’s double sent Andre Ethier to third. Grandal ended a hitless drought of 37 at-bats with a leadoff single in the sixth.
