A.J. Ellis, Jimmy Rollins home runs back Clayton Kershaw shutout of Phillies

LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw was great and the Dodgers got offense from some unlikely sources to beat the Phillies. A.J. Ellis hit a two-run home run and Jimmy Rollins hit a three-run shot to give the Dodgers a 5-0 shutout win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Kershaw, in his first start since not being named to the National League All-Star team, pitched his first complete game and shutout of the season, the 10th shutout and 18th complete game of his career.

Kershaw struck out 13 and walked none on the night, and leads the majors with 160 strikeouts on the season. Only Sandy Koufax (three times) had more strikeouts by a Dodgers pitcher before the All-Star break.

The win evened Kershaw's record at 6-6, and moved his ERA below three for the first time all year, now at 2.85. In a supposed down year.

Rollins doubled in the second inning, then Ellis took left-handed pitcher Adam Morgan deep to left field for a 2-0 Dodgers lead. It was the first home run of the season for Ellis, who was getting ribbed by teammates for his goose egg in the home run column.

"The guys were joking the day before that I was sponsored by Coke Zero, but now I've moved up to the card game Uno," Ellis said.

Ellis has hit his last six home runs in Kershaw starts, dating back to 2013.

Ellis' last home run hit in a start by someone other than Clayton Kershaw was on Sept. 19, 2013, a go-ahead shot in the eighth inning in the Dodgers' division-clinching win in Arizona.

"I've always said A.J. can hit," Kershaw said. "For him this year it's about figuring out playing once every few days. It's not as easy as it looks."

But his home run wasn't the last of Ellis on offense on Wednesday. He added two singles for his first three-hit game of the season, the culmination of an upward trend of late. Ellis has reached base via hit or walk in each of his last eight starts, and in 12 of his last 14 starts dating back to May 25, hitting .308/.449/.462 during that span.

"He's been pretty good offensively for a while," manager Don Mattingly said. "Swinging the bat good, getting on base."

Ellis liked the surge to some mechanical adjustments he made in June.

"Something kind of clicked for me in what I wanted to do, and that's been my focus of what I wanted to do in my sessions in the batting cage. It's really important in anything in baseball if you have immediate results when you make an adjustment," Ellis said. "Against Texas against Wandy [Rodriguez on June 17], I was able to have two good swings, and I was hooked."

Rollins followed his double with a three-run shot off Morgan in the third inning, his eighth home run of the season and second from the right side.

Rollins in his career has 826 extra-base hits. Among all players since 1876 who have played at least half their games at shortstop, only four have more extra-base hits than Rollins — Cal Ripken, Honus Wagner, Robin Yount and Derek Jeter.

In his first three games against his former team, Rollins is 4-for-12 (.333) with four runs scored and five driven in.

That offense came in support of Kershaw, who pitched a scoreless game against the Phillies for the third consecutive season. Kershaw has a personal scoreless streak against the Phillies of 27 consecutive innings, dating back to 2012.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: A.J. Ellis (1), Jimmy Rollins (8)

WP - Clayton Kershaw (6-6): 9 IP, 8 hits, 13 strikeouts

LP - Adam Morgan (1-2): 4 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout