De Leon amassed nine strikeouts in his six innings, issued no walks, hit one batter and allowed four runs on six hits while throwing 86 pitches in a 7-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.
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The Padres finished their 9-game road trip with a 3-6 record that includes a sweep at the hands of the Braves, the team with the worst record in Major League Baseball. Wil Myers followed with a single and Solarte hurt De Leon again, this time with a run-scoring sacrifice fly that gave the Padres a 4-3 lead.
Los Angeles comes into Sunday with a two-game lead over the Giants in the NL West and a 5 1/2 game lead on a postseason spot in general. He struck out four and walked three after pitching in relief last week. Corey Seager lined a single to left field, took third base when Justin Turner lined a single down the right-field line and scored the first run on Adrian Gonzalez’s line-drive single into right field.
Two innings later he hit a 2-run home run to provide a little more breathing room.
Friday’s game is the start of a 10-game road trip that includes three games against the Yankees.
Padres: RHP Edwin Jackson (3-5, 6.26 ERA) opens a three-game home series against Boston.
Grant Dayton struck out two in a hitless seventh, Joe Blanton threw a scoreless eighth, and closer Kenley Jansen added a scoreless ninth for his 41st save.
De Leon became the 15th different starting pitcher – and seventh in seven days – used by Los Angeles this season.
Brewers 7, Pirates 4: Struggling rookie Jose Arcia had three hits, including a tiebreaking single in Milwaukee’s four-run eighth inning.
The back-and-forth battle began when Yangervis Solarte hit his second home run of the series in the top half of the third inning.
Padres: INF Alexei Ramirez was released Sunday after being told he wasn’t going to be the team’s everyday shortstop anymore. Greinke pitched in Los Angeles the past three seasons.
The Dodgers announced on Sunday that Kershaw will return to their rotation Friday night against the Miami Marlins, his first start since a June 26 outing at Pittsburgh.
But his third attempt to progress back to a major league mound was successful, as Kershaw looked sharp over 34 pitches in a rehab start at Class A Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) on Saturday.
Royals 5, Tigers 2: Eric Hosmer hit his career-high 20th homer, and Yordano Ventura pitched into and out of trouble as Kansas City snapped a three-game losing streak.
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Kershaw owns an incredible 1.79 ERA and 32.9 strikeout percentage across 16 starts (121 innings) this season.
