LOS ANGELES — Matt Kemp has done a number of impressive things during his still blossoming major league career. Tuesday night he reached another important bench mark, his first game-ending home run.
Kemp greeted reliever Juan Gutierrez with a drive into the left field pavilion leading off the 10th inning, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 1-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
"It was a great feeling, getting my first walk-off home run. Now I know how 'Dre (Andre Ethier) feels when he hits all those walk-off home runs," Kemp said after his 11th homer of the season. "It was pretty exciting to do it for once in my life. I hit the ball pretty hard, so I knew it was gone."
Gutierrez (0-5) extended Arizona's streak to 12 consecutive games in which the pitching staff has allowed a home run.
Jeff Weaver (3-1) pitched a scoreless 10th for the victory, helping the Dodgers win for the 17th time in 22 games and sending the D-Backs to their ninth straight loss.
Tempers flared in the seventh inning when Russell Martin slid into Stephen Drew's leg at second base. The two exchanged words before center fielder Chris Young charged in toward the infield. That was the cue for both dugouts to empty, followed by both bullpens.
"It was just a hard slide," Martin said. "Looking at the replay, I kind of slid through the bag a little bit and caught a cleat on his foot. He didn't like that and he expressed his disagreement. I just told him that I play the game hard and that there was nothing personal there. I don't even know what he said. At that time, I was just zoning everything out."
No punches were thrown. The next batter was pinch-hitter Garret Anderson, who grounded into a double play as Jamey Carroll intentionally went out of the baseline to slide into Drew and try to break up the DP. But that was the end of it.
"I was trying to pick which guy on the other team I was going to fight," Dodgers 69-year-old manager Joe Torre joked. "I looked around and I finally settled on (first base coach) Matt Williams."
Both starting pitchers, John Ely and Dan Haren, matched zeros during their intense duel. Haren threw a career-high 126 pitches over eight innings, scattering seven hits and striking out seven without allowing a walk – after giving up four home runs in each of his previous two starts.
"It's tough. We're finding every which way to lose a game, it seems like," Haren said. "I mean, obviously, I'm happy I threw the ball better because I haven't been myself up to this point. I'm getting there. I'm starting to feel like I have in the past. I had more life on the fastball."
Torre was impressed by the way Haren wiggled out of trouble every time the Dodgers had him on the ropes.
"Haren was a bulldog out there tonight," Torre said. "We've had some pretty good success against him, but tonight he wasn't going to have any of that."
Ely allowed two hits over seven innings, struck out five and walked two before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter.
"I was just happy I was able to keep us in the game, and we ended up winning. So there's really nothing for me to be upset about," Ely said. "The past couple of innings I had a decent feel for all of my pitches and I felt like I was OK throwing any pitch in any situation."
The 24-year-old right-hander, who lost a 1-0 decision last Thursday at Chicago, has allowed no more than two earned runs in any of his last six starts.
"This kid has really infused us with a little energy," Torre said. "He doesn't really care who he's pitching against. He just challenges everybody, and it's very refreshing to watch that. Everybody loves being around him."
Young was impressed by Ely's ability to paint the corners in his second start against the Diamondbacks. On May 11 at Phoenix, he held them to two runs and six hits over six innings in a 13-3 win.
"He didn't leave too many balls over the middle of the plate tonight and he mixed his pitches up well," said Young, who declined to give his version of the bench-clearing episode. "I wish we could have gotten more runs for Danny. He pitched an amazing game, but we couldn't string anything together. It was frustrating."
Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds did not play because of a strained right quad that has bothered him for more than a week. He felt discomfort after running out a single in the ninth inning Monday night and was removed for a pinch-runner when he reached second on a wild pitch.
NOTES: LHP Dontrelle Willis, obtained on Monday by Arizona in a trade that sent RHP Billy Buckner to Detroit, is penciled in to make his D-Backs debut on Saturday against Colorado at Chase Field. "I'm looking forward to getting him in our uniform and getting him out on the mound," manager A.J. Hinch said. "We're a team that needs a little life at this point."