LOS ANGELES -- His teammates were reeling, their bitter rivals were surging, the division was slipping, and under those circumstances, Clayton Kershaw -- clearly diminished but still every bit as determined -- came through.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers riding a four-game losing streak, and hosting a San Diego Padres team that had won five straight to make up 10 games in a span of six weeks, Kershaw fired six innings of one-run ball Friday night, cutting through the tension of a keyed-up series to set the tone in a 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.

The National League West, a division the Dodgers led by nine games just six weeks earlier, is tied once more. The Padres and Dodgers will play five more games against one another over the next nine days.

"We had the right guy on the mound

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