Colorado @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 25, 2011 ) Colorado 5, LA Dodgers 8

THE STORY: Clayton Kershaw’s reputation as one of the top pitchers in baseball keeps growing, and his strikeout totals also are rising to higher levels. The major-league leader in strikeouts looks for his 10th win in 11 decisions when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Colorado Rockies in Tuesday’s second game of the three-game series. Kershaw, who has 167 strikeouts, has fanned an average of 10.2 hitters over his last six starts, striking out 10 or more in four of the outings. The Dodgers won Monday’s opener 8-5 to even the season series at 5-5. Colorado’s Jhoulys Chacin opposes Kershaw. Chacin hasn’t allowed a run in 15 innings against the Dodgers this season.

TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, ROOT, KCAL.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Jhoulys Chacin (8-7, 3.60) vs. Dodgers LH Clayton Kershaw (11-4, 2.72)

Chacin is 0-3 in six starts since last winning on June 15. He has allowed five earned runs in each of his last two starts while receiving no-decisions against both Atlanta (Thursday) and Milwaukee (July 16). He is 2-0 against Los Angeles this season, throwing seven shutout innings to beat Kershaw on April 5 and later blanking the Dodgers over eight innings in June. He is 5-3 with a 2.04 ERA in nine career appearances (eight starts) against Los Angeles. Andre Ethier is 6-for-13 against Chacin.

Kershaw has won three straight contests without allowing a single earned run in 23 innings against the New York Mets, Arizona and San Francisco. Kershaw struck out a season-best 12 against the Giants in his last outing when he gave up just three hits in eight innings. Kershaw is 0-1 in two outings against Colorado and has given up nine runs in 12 innings. Troy Tulowitzki is batting just .219 in 32 career at-bats against Kershaw.

ABOUT THE DODGERS (46-56): Los Angeles has scored 18 runs during its three-game winning streak after scoring just nine runs over the previous six contests. Andre Ethier had three RBIs and hit a two-run homer Monday for his initial homer and first RBIs since hitting two solo homers on July 10 against San Diego. Ethier has just three homers and seven RBIs in July. Infielder Juan Uribe (abdominal strain) sat out his second consecutive game. Uribe is hitless in 15 career at-bats against Chacin. Cleanup hitter Matt Kemp has four homers against Colorado this season but is just 3-for-20 in his career against Chacin. Rafael Furcal had two hits and is 5-for-12 over the last three games.

ABOUT THE ROCKIES (48-55): Colorado has lost 11 of its last 14 road games and is 22-29 away from home this season. Tulowitzki walked three times before being retired in his final two at-bats. Tulowitzki is batting .385 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 39 at-bats against Los Angeles this season. Dexter Fowler had two hits and two RBIs and has four multihit games in his last seven contests. Fowler is batting .462 during the streak and has a .364 average in 22 career at-bats against Kershaw. Mark Ellis was hitless in four at-bats to end a six-game hitting streak. Ellis batted .370 during the streak.

FINAL PITCH: The eight runs Los Angeles scored Monday was its highest effort since a season-best 15-0 drubbing of Minnesota on June 27. Colorado has allowed 27 runs during its three-game skid and has given up 40 runs over the last five contests.