up the top-hitting

DENVER -- Don Mattingly made a rather bold prediction after Clayton Kershaws latest masterful performance: His ace will give up another run at some point this season. Theo Pinson Jersey . "I know Im going out on a limb," the Los Angeles Dodgers manager joked. Lately, Kershaw has looked that untouchable. The hard-throwing lefty nearly had no-hit stuff against Colorado again, allowing only two singles over eight innings as the Dodgers beat the Rockies 9-0 on Friday night. Whats more, Kershaw (10-2) extended his scoreless streak to 36 innings before being replaced by a pinch hitter in the ninth. Kershaw bottled up the top-hitting team in the majors in nearly matching the no-hitter he threw against the Rockies on June 18 at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw struck out eight and walked one. "You dont ever want to give up a run," Kershaw casually said. "I guess thats the goal." The nastiness of Kershaws slider -- the best pitch in baseball, Drew Stubbs labeled it -- is fueling his roll. "Anytime he takes the mound, hes capable of the run hes been on," catcher A.J. Ellis said. Yasiel Puig hit a two-run shot -- his first homer since May 28 -- and Scott Van Slyke added a three-run homer as the Dodgers had a season-high 19 hits. Jair Jurrjens (0-1) struggled in his first big-league start in a year, lasting 4 2-3 innings and giving up eight runs. After the game, Jurrjens was taken to a nearby hospital for tests after developing breathing issues. Though the problems dissipated, the Rockies had him taken to the hospital. Kershaw was coming off quite a June in which he went 6-0 with a 0.82 ERA. He carried it over to July as he allowed only DJ LeMahieus single in the third and Nolan Arenados base hit in the seventh. The 26-year-old Kershaw hasnt allowed a run since the third inning against Arizona on June 13. His scoreless innings streak is the third-longest in Los Angeles history, according to information from the Elias Sports Bureau provided by the Dodgers. The team -- and major league -- record is 59 straight by Orel Hershiser in 1988. Of those 36 scoreless innings Kershaw has turned in, 17 have now been at Colorados expense. The Rockies didnt have Troy Tulowitzki (tight groin) in the lineup Friday night. "Hes on a pretty good roll, approaching historic measures," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "Hes locked in right now and we saw it today." Kershaw also did some damage with his bat as he laced an RBI single to left as part of a five-run fifth to break the game open. It was Kershaws first RBI of the season. Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez was hit on the left arm by Jurrjens in the fifth and was replaced when the team took the field. Mattingly indicated Ramirez could possibly be in the lineup Saturday. Colorado finally solved Kershaw in the third when LeMahieu lined a base hit to right. Jurrjens followed with a bunt that Kershaw wildly threw to first for an error, putting runners on first and third with one out. But Kershaw picked off Jurrjens and then struck out Charlie Blackmon to keep his scoreless innings streak intact. "During this run, hes had an A curveball and an A slider this entire time," Ellis said. "Theyre both electric strikeout pitches." The Dodgers hit for the cycle in the first to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Dee Gordon began with a bunt single and Puig followed with a two-run homer. Ramirez added a double and scored on Andre Ethiers two-out triple. A rocky start to Jurrjens Rockies career. The Rockies acquired Jurrjens in a trade with Cincinnati two days ago to bolster a rotation ravaged by injuries. He became the 13th different starter Colorado has used this season. Jurrjens last pitched in the big leagues on June 29, 2013, when he was with Baltimore. He was replacing Jhoulys Chacin, whos on the 60-day disabled list with an inflamed right shoulder. NOTES: Every Dodgers starter had a hit Friday night. Gordon, Ellis and Ethier each had three. ... Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez (left index finger) hit in the cage Friday. ... Decorated Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen posted on her Twitter account a picture from the Rockies game and a message saying: "Thank you to the rockies for my first outing! You guys have been amazing to us!" Van Dyken-Rouen is rehabbing at nearby Craig Hospital after an accident on an all-terrain vehicle left her paralyzed. Custom Brooklyn Nets Jerseys . The star receiver certainly isnt celebrating it with the Texans mired in a franchise-record 13-game skid. Rodions Kurucs Jersey . Chile applied pressure in midfield right from the beginning, challenging aggressively and continually surging forward. Eduardo Vargas beat the offside trap and fired home a stinging shot for Chiles opening goal in the fifth minute. EDMONTON -- Not many teams have managed to make the Buffalo Sabres look good this season, but the Edmonton Oilers found a way to do it on Thursday. Cory Conacher had two goals and an assist as the Sabres snapped a lengthy seven-game losing skid, emerging with a 3-1 victory over the Oilers in a battle between the teams with the worst records in the NHL. Drew Stafford also scored for the Sabres (20-42-8) who had been outscored 21-6 in their previous seven losses. "It was huge," Stafford said. "The way that this year has gone and the challenges we have gone through, we will take any win at this point, regardless of who it is against. That was one of our more complete efforts. "We had some discipline issues, but had a great PK. We also had more than one goal, which is big. Getting a 3-1 lead, Im not sure I can remember the last time we had a comfortable lead like that where we could lock in our system and take over the game." Sabres head coach Ted Nolan said his team earned the two points on the night as they ran their road record to just 8-22-3. "It is good to finally play a half decent game," he said. "When you lose, you get what you deserve, and we have been getting what we deserved. We werent playing very well, but tonight we got what we deserved." Conacher scored his first goal as a Sabre since being claimed on waivers from Ottawa at the trade deadline, and his first goal overall since Dec. 28. "It was refreshing," he said. "Ive already had to get the monkey off my back once before this year, and it feels like it came off again tonight. Maybe this was the game I needed to open the floodgates a bit. The most important part was getting the win, though. Taylor Hall responded for the Oilers (25-37-9) who saw a two-game winning streak end. The Oilers, now 10-5-3 in their last 18 games, are in second-last behind the Sabres. "You look at some games on the schedule and you think, oh, its going to be an easy night, but Ive learned in this league that anything can happen," Hall said. "Whether youre playing the St Louis Blues or Buffalo, you have to come in with the same mind-set. "It doesnt matter what place theyre in or anything, every game is hard and just because we lost to the team behind us doesnt mean were going to come to the rink and sulk tomorrow. As long as the work ethic is there and the battle and the compete ... as long as we have that, were proud." Oilers captain Andrew Ference said his team just didnt seem to have that second effort that has seen them come back in games of late. "Weve been able to takke the tempo of game and take control of the third period recently and we just didnt do that tonight," he said. DeAndre Jordan Jersey. "Their second goal was just putting the puck to the net and it didnt seem as though we responded as well as weve had in the last two weeks. "We just lacked that extra couple of notches on the dial tonight." Little happened for the bulk of the first period, save for a spirited scrap between Edmontons Luke Gazdic and Buffalos Zenon Konopka. Edmonton had numerous chances on the power play late in the first, including posts hit by Justin Schultz and Hall, before the two connected for a man-advantage goal on Buffalo goalie Matt Hacket, who was making his first start of the season for the Sabres. Schultz made a quick pass to Hall in the centre of the right faceoff circle and he blew a one-timer past Hacket with two minutes left in the first period for his 24th goal of the season. Hacket was recently called up from Rochester of the AHL with normal goalies Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth out with injuries. The Sabres tied the game with a power-play goal of their own just before the midway point of the second period as Conacher was able to tip a Jamie McBain point shot past Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens. Buffalo took a 2-1 lead 1:09 into the third period as a soft Schultz clearing attempt was intercepted by Torrey Mitchell and his shot on net was once again tipped past Scrivens by Conacher for his second of the game and sixth of the season. The Sabres took a two-goal lead five minutes into the third as Scrivens was down and out on a rebound that came back to Stafford, who scored his fifth goal in the last seven games. Hacket made 35 saves for the victory in the Buffalo net. The Oilers play the third game of a six-game homestand on Saturday against the Calgary Flames. The Sabres play the third game of a five-game road trip on Sunday in Vancouver. Notes: It was the second of a pair of meetings between the Oilers and Sabres this season. Edmonton won the first game 3-2 on Feb. 3a In their seven losses before facing the Oilers, only two Sabres players recorded goals - Drew Stafford (four goals) and Tyler Ennis (two goals)a Hacket became the fourth goalie used by Buffalo in the last four gamesa Both teams were fairly banged up for the game. Notable absences for the Oilers included forwards Jordan Eberle (knee) and Nail Yakupov (ankle), while the Sabres were without defencemen Tyler Myers (elbow) and Alexander Sulzer (upper body) and forwards Chris Stewart (ankle) and Zemgus Girgensons (lower body). ' ' '