REIGNING NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw was examined Tuesday by a hip specialist who said the Los Angeles lefthander can continue to pitch without risking damage to his sore right hip - but the Dodgers want to keep him sidelined if the pain persists.
The team said Kershaw would restart a throwing program Tuesday, when the Dodgers' scheduled game at the Washington Nationals was postponed by rain. The teams will play two games on Wednesday, beginning at 4 p.m.
Asked whether Kershaw will pitch again this season, manager Don Mattingly replied: "Yeah, maybe. Sounds like there's a chance of it."
"What I really want, at the end of the day, is to make sure we do the right thing for Clayton moving forward. I know we'll do the right thing for him, so that's not really a concern," Mattingly said.
Kershaw was scratched from a start on Sunday because of the right hip. He is 12-9 with a 2.70 ERA and NL-leading 206 strikeouts.
The Dodgers said Dr. Bryan Kelly, who saw Kershaw in New York, agreed with team physician Neal ElAttrache's opinion that Kershaw's joint is pinched during the hip's rotation in his pitching motion.
"It didn't seem like there was anything really new that we haven't heard before," Mattingly said.
The team will seek medical opinions from other hip specialists and already have passed along MRI exams and other tests.
"He's really competitive, but he also knows he can't pitch at certain points. If he can't throw, he knows he can't compete," Mattingly said. "I get the sense that it's something that's fairly serious, but that he's not hurting himself."
At St. Louis, Kyle Lohse threw seven scoreless innings for his 15th victory and contributed an RBI double as the Cardinals beat Houston, 4-1. The result left the Phillies four games behind the Cardinals in the race for the second NL wild card.
* At Miami, Jose Reyes hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning, and the Miami Marlins snapped Atlanta's four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Braves.
The Braves rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the ninth to tie the game on an RBI single by Dan Uggla and a two-run double by Brian McCann.
* At Pittsburgh, Yovani Gallard (16-8) gave up just two hits over 6 2/3 innings and the surging Milwaukee Brewers defeated the weary Pirates, 6-0. The Pirates are 4-12 this month.
* At Phoenix, Miguel Montero hit a pair of RBI doubles and Ian Kennedy held San Diego to one run in eight innings as the Diamondbacks beat the Padres, 3-2.
* At Chicago, Homer Bailey pitched effectively into the eighth inning, Ryan Hanigan hit a three-run double and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Cubs, 3-1, to move closer to the NL Central title.
