SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Ian Kennedy had his best outing of the spring and Los Angeles' Clayton Kershaw had to wait an extra 51/2 hours to take the mound in the Arizona Diamondbacks' 3-0 victory over a Dodgers split squad Monday night.
Kennedy, already named Arizona's opening day starter by manager Kirk Gibson, allowed three hits, struck out six and walked three in 5 1/3 innings.
Kershaw was supposed to start the Dodgers' earlier split squad game Monday but that was rained out, so he had to travel to Scottsdale to make the chilly evening appearance. The Los Angeles lefty gave up two runs and eight hits in five innings, striking out five and walking two. He threw 94 pitches.
He said he went back to his apartment for a couple of hours after the rainout before making the trip to north Scottsdale to face Arizona.
"I'm glad I got to pitch," Kershaw said. "Obviously, I would have liked to pitch better. I was battling the whole time. I was behind on the count every batter, it seemed like."
"A lot of stuff to work on," he said, "but I'm glad I got to see what I needed to work on."
Arizona scored twice off Kershaw in the fourth inning. Chris Young doubled into the left-field corner, then scored on Miguel Montero's single. Montero advanced to third on Melvin Mora's single, then scored on Xavier Nady's base hit. Willie Bloomquist batted leadoff for the Diamondbacks and went 2 for 3 to raise his spring average to .412.
Relievers Joe Paterson, Juan Gutierrez, Esmerling Vasquez and Sam Demel completed the four-hit shutout.
Kennedy was coming off two tough outings and determined he was "over-striding" from the mound.
"Ian really got it going," Gibson said. "He's been working on his mechanical adjustment in his bullpens. I think he was thinking about it earlier in the game. He was repeating it and he got the ball down. He threw some real good changes late. His ball was way down in the zone."
Kennedy said that for a short time in the second inning that he was returning to the "older habits" he had worked on correcting over the past week.
"Things I've been working on like shortening my stride really clicked probably the third and fourth innings," Kennedy said. "It helps my offspeed pitches when I bring [the stride] in a little bit."
The cool weather was unpleasant for fans but not for Kennedy.
"No, I like it," he said. "I actually prefer it to be cooler and cold. I honestly feel you can put more layers on, then you can take them off."
As he left the interview room, Gibson announced that right-hander Barry Enright had made the opening day rotation. He is the third to be so named behind fellow rightys Kennedy and Daniel Hudson.
Kennedy threw about 90 pitches and said he hopes to top 100 in the next outing, his final of the spring.