Kershaw wins No. 20 as Dodgers rout Cubs

Clayton Kershaw may not have had his best stuff, but he became the first major-league pitcher to earn his 20th victory of the season Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers crushed the Cubs 14-5 at Wrigley Field.

Kershaw gave up 3 runs in the first inning and wound up lasting 5 innings as he gave up 7 hits while walking three and striking out nine. He ran his record to 20-3 while his ERA rose from 1.70 to 1.80. The 5-inning stint was Kershaw's shortest since he went 5 innings on June 8. After that, he went 17 straight starts of at least 7 innings until Friday.

On the other side, it was another rough outing for Cubs starting pitcher Edwin Jackson, who returned from the disabled list and pitched for the first time since Aug. 20. Jackson lasted only two-thirds of an inning, throwing 35 pitches. He gave up 4 hits and was charged with 5 of the 6 runs the Dodgers scored in the top of the first. Jackson had been on the DL with a right-lat strain. He saw his record drop to 6-15 and his ERA rise from 6.09 to 6.38.

The Dodgers batted around in the first. Matt Kemp hit a 3-run homer off Jackson. Later in the inning, rookie left-hander Eric Jokisch replaced Jackson and gave up a 2-run homer to A.J. Ellis. It was the first of 2 homers in the game for Ellis, who entered the game with just 1.

The Cubs gave themselves some momentary hope in the bottom of the first. Anthony Rizzo had an RBI double, and he scored on Jorge Soler's triple. Rafael Lopez, pinch hitting for injured catcher Welington Castillo (bruised rib, suffered in the top of the inning), made it 6-3 on a sacrifice fly.

The Dodgers scored twice in the third and six more times in the sixth inning. They've taken the first two in this four-game series.