Chad Billingsley sharp in season finale, Dodgers beat Diamondbacks 3-2

Billingsley pitches Dodgers past Diamondbacks 3-2

LOS ANGELES — Chad Billingsley took a shutout into the eighth inning, Matt Kemp homered in his fourth straight game and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 Saturday night with Joe Torre letting utilityman Jamey Carroll manage the team.

Billingsley (12-11) was charged with two runs and four hits over 7 1-3 innings and struck out nine. The 26-year-old right-hander finished his season with a 3.57 ERA in 31 starts, including a 5-4 loss at Arizona last Sunday in which he tied a career best with 13 strikeouts.

Billingsley retired his first 13 batters before walking Adam LaRoche. Gerardo Parra, who came in 3 for 18 against Billingsley and struck out his first two times up, singled cleanly through the left side leading off the sixth to break up the no-hit bid.

Stephen Drew’s two-out RBI single in the eighth chased Billingsley, and Tony Abreu greeted Ramon Troncoso with a sacrifice fly that trimmed the Dodgers’ lead to 3-2. Troncoso struck out Kelly Johnson to strand a runner at second.

Diamondbacks hitters, who already set a major league record with 1,517 strikeouts, finished a game in double digits for the 72nd time this season. Their record in those games is 17-55, including a 1-8 mark against Los Angeles.

Rookie reliever Kenley Jansen struck out three in the ninth for his fourth save.

Joe Saunders (3-7) gave up three runs — two earned — and 10 hits over seven innings. He struck out five without walking a batter. The left-hander finished the year 9-17 overall with a 4.47 ERA in 33 combined starts with the Diamondbacks and Angels, after going 33-14 over the previous two seasons.

The Dodgers had eight hits before the Diamondbacks got their first one, but they weren’t able to score until the fifth after Andre Ethier singled with two outs for one of his four hits. Kemp drove a 3-0 pitch into the left-field pavilion for his 27th homer, eclipsing his career-high total from last season.

Los Angeles added an unearned run in the sixth on Reed Johnson’s sacrifice fly after a three-base error by center fielder Chris Young, who attempted to make a one-handed grab of Rod Barajas’ towering fly to the warning track in right-center.

Saunders, acquired in a trade for Dan Haren on July 25, is 0-8 with a 6.06 ERA in nine road starts since his complete-game 7-1 victory for the Angels against Oakland on June 9. He reached 200 innings for the first time.

For the second night in a row, the 70-year-old Torre let one of his veteran players manage the Dodgers and pick his own coaching staff. Torre is stepping down as manager after the season and plans to retire.

Los Angeles catcher Brad Ausmus, who will call it a career after he starts behind the plate on Sunday, was Carroll’s bench coach after calling the shots during Friday night’s 7-5 loss. Demoted closer Jonathan Broxton served as bullpen coach and bullpen catcher Mike Borzello was the pitching coach.

NOTES: Torre said he will keep the lineup card and the uniform shirt he will wear on Sunday. “A win tomorrow would be nice, because I won my first game as a manager. So it would be nice to put those bookends out there,” he said.