Kershaw faced the Diamondbacks for the first time since his 3-2 victory on Sept. 14 at Dodger Stadium, when he was ejected by umpire Bill Welke for hitting Gerardo Parra with a pitch on the right elbow after Parra doubled his previous time up. One night earlier, Parra had taken an extra second or two to leave the batter's box on his tying home run against Hong-Chih Kuo, who had thrown an earlier pitch at his head.
On Monday night, Kennedy threw a 2-1 pitch behind Kershaw and to the backstop before walking him. Kershaw returned the favor in the fifth, making Kennedy bail out of the batter's box on a first-pitch fastball before walking him. Umpire Marvin Hudson immediately issued a warning to Kershaw and both dugouts.
''He obviously didn't like it, so he came back at us. So you take it for what it's worth. It's a long season,'' Bloomquist said. ''It's the game within the game. Nobody's trying to hurt anyone, it's just to prove a point. Baseball has a way of taking care of itself, so if it happens again, it'll happen again. I certainly don't mind it, if there's a reason for it. But I'm not the one out there throwing the ball.''
Kershaw then gave his side of it.
''Old-school baseball's one thing, and I understand what the manager's trying to instill over there, but there's no place for that here,'' he said. ''It's obvious what they were trying to do, but I don't agree with what they did. It just felt wrong. He's a good pitcher, he had an awesome year last year and I have a lot of respect for what he does on the hill. But if that's how they want to do it, that's fine. He missed anyway, so no big deal.''
Josh Lindblom gave up a home run to Aaron Hill in the eighth inning and Kenley Jansen pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five attempts.
Kemp was replaced in center by Tony Gwynn Jr., who prevented a run in the third inning with a perfect one-hop throw to A.J. Ellis after A.J. Pollack tried to score from second base on a single to right-center by Bloomquist. In Sunday's win over Colorado, Gwynn shifted from left field to center after Kemp aggravated his hamstring injury while robbing Carlos Gonzalez with a diving backhanded catch in left-center.
