Dodgers 8, Nationals 3: Reigning Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings in his first start in more than six weeks as visiting Los Angeles evened the series at one game apiece.

Drew Butera clubbed a three-run homer and Hanley Ramirez added a solo shot and two RBIs as the Dodgers improved to 5-3 on their nine-game road trip that concludes Wednesday. Kershaw (2-0), sidelined with a strained muscle in his upper back since winning the season opener in Australia on March 22, struck out nine and gave up nine singles without walking a batter.

Jayson Werth went 4-for-5 with an RBI, Anthony Rendon added three hits and Jose Lobaton contributed a two-run single for Washington, which fell to 1-6 in its last seven against Los Angeles. Blake Treinen (0-1), making his first career start and fourth appearance, was betrayed by his defense and permitted three runs - zero earned - on seven hits in five-plus innings.

The Dodgers broke a scoreless deadlock in the sixth, loading the bases without a ball leaving the infield on an error, an infield hit and Carl Crawford's bunt single before Ramirez ended Treinen's night with an RBI single to right. Reliever Craig Stammen struck out Matt Kemp and retired Andre Ethier on a groundout that plated a run before Juan Uribe delivered a broken-bat bloop single to make it 3-0.

Kershaw ran into jams in both the fourth and sixth innings but escaped both threats unscathed with a pair of strikeouts in each frame to win his fourth consecutive start against the Nationals. Los Angeles capitalized on another miscue in the seventh when Dee Gordon had a two-out triple and scored when Scott Hairston dropped Crawford's fly ball to make it 4-0 before Ramirez and Butera went deep in the eighth for an 8-0 cushion.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Dodgers LF Crawford had his second straight three-hit game and boosted his career numbers to 18-for-33 in eight games at Washington. ... Werth registered his second four-hit game of the season and collected multiple hits for the sixth time in 11 games for Washington, which has allowed a major league-high 26 unearned runs. ... Dodgers 1B Adrian Gonzalez got the night off while OF Yasiel Puig was not in the starting lineup for a second straight game after crashing into the wall during Sunday's loss at Miami, but the Cuban said he is available for pinch-hitting duties.