Billingsley, Kemp lead Dodgers past Arizona, 3-2

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Pitcher Chad Billingsley had another strong outing and a resurgent Matt Kemp drilled his fourth home run in four games Saturday night as the Dodgers edged the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2, at Dodger Stadium in their next-to-last game of the season.

Billingsley retired the first 13 batters he faced and the right-hander didn’t allow a hit until Arizona’s Gerardo Parra led off the sixth inning with a single. Billingsley also struck out nine.

Kemp, meanwhile, hit a two-run home run to the left-field pavilion off Diamondbacks starter and former Angel Joe Saunders in the fifth inning.

The Dodgers scored again in the sixth inning when Rod Barajas hit a deep fly that Arizona center fielder Chris Young dropped, allowing Barajas to reach third base, and Reed Johnson brought Barajas home with a sacrifice fly.

Arizona scored in the eighth inning when Brandon Allen singled, Billingsley hit pinch-hitter Ryan Church with a pitch and Stephen Drew singled to score Allen and move Church to third base. After reliever Ramon Troncoso took over for Billingsley, Church came home on Tony Abreu’s sacrifice fly.

Veteran Jamey Carroll was the Dodgers’ guest manager Saturday night, part of Manager Joe Torre’s tradition of letting one of his players manage the last game or two of the season.

The 70-year-old Torre will manage Sunday’s season finale and then step down as the Dodgers’ skipper.

Carroll, a utility infielder, ended up playing in 132 games this season and was batting .293 entering Saturday’s game.

--Jim Peltz