MLB notes: Clayton Kershaw fans 14; Dodgers split the day with Nationals

Clayton Kershaw injected some normalcy into what had been a strange 24 hours at Nationals Park.

Kershaw continued his mastery of the Nationals, striking out a season-high 14 in eight shutout innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated Washington 4-2 to earn a split of the two games decided Saturday.

Hours earlier, pinch-hitter Matt den Dekker lined a two-run homer in the eighth inning that lifted the Nationals over the Dodgers 5-3 in the completion of a game suspended a day earlier after the fifth because of a lighting malfunction.

The scheduled game belonged to Kershaw.

“Looking back, it’s probably as close as I remember his stuff being to his no-hitter day last June,” catcher A.J. Ellis said. “Both breaking balls (curveball and slider) were just so dominant.”

Kershaw (7-6), coming off a shutout of the Phillies, scattered three singles and didn’t walk a batter.

“I think more than anything I was just able to throw all three pitches,” Kershaw said. “I think I threw probably the best slider I’ve had all year. So that’s definitely encouraging.”

The lefty has won six straight starts against Washington, fashioning a 0.96 ERA in the process.

Bryce Harper struck three times against Kershaw, but hit a two-run homer in the ninth off reliever Kenley Jansen. It was Harper’s 27th of the season.

“He put on a clinic today … He was pretty devastating,” said Harper, who is now 1 for 9 with six strikeouts against Kershaw in his career.

The series opener was delayed three times Friday night by a bank of lights on the third base side that kept going out, and finally stopped with Washington ahead 3-2. The Nationals said Saturday that a faulty circuit breaker caused the outage.

When the suspended game resumed, the Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez hit his second homer of the game, a tying shot in the sixth.

Den Dekker hit his second homer of the season and the first of his career as a pinch hitter. The two-out drive into the second deck came against loser Pedro Baez.

Yunel Escobar homered and doubled twice for Washington.

No no-no for Lester

Jon Lester lost his bid for a no-hitter in the eighth inning – a try revived by an official scorer’s reversal – but ended the longest winless streak of his career as the Chicago Cubs shut out the host Atlanta Braves 4-0.

A chopper in the first inning by Atlanta’s Nick Markakis was originally ruled a hit, then the scorer changed it in the top of the seventh to an error on third baseman Kris Bryant.

A.J. Pierzynski, Lester’s batterymate in Boston last year, led off the eighth with a line-drive single to right field for Atlanta’s first hit. With one out, Andrelton Simmons’ single up the middle chased Lester.

Lester (5-8) had gone 10 starts without a win. The lefty pitched a no-hitter for the Red Sox in 2008 against Kansas City.

Pirates’ Liriano scratched

Pirates left-hander Francisco Liriano was scratched minutes before the start of the game against the Milwaukee Brewers because of neck tightness. There was no immediate word on the severity of Liriano’s injury. Liriano (5-6) had made all 18 of his previously scheduled starts this year.