VIDEO: Kershaw gives Mattingly earful after getting pulled in 5th

Clayton Kershaw is vying for his third consecutive National League Cy Young Award, so it's not surprising he was fuming after getting pulled in the fifth inning of Thursday's contest with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly elected to pinch hit for Kershaw, who threw just 80 pitches over five innings of work, and that prompted a standoff between the manager and ace in the dugout.

Mattingly kept his cool during the conversation, but it didn't help his cause when Austin Barnes flied out to center field in place of Kershaw to open the inning. However, the Dodgers would then explode for six runs to take the lead, capped by a Chris Heisey grand slam to lighten the mood, and quickly put a smile on Kershaw's face.

(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)

"He doesn't ever want to come out," Mattingly said postgame. "We just had to try to score, down three runs. It never bothers me. Guys want to be competitive and stay in the game, that never bothers me at all. That's just part of it. I make that decision, you don't like it, we can talk about it later."

The Diamondbacks have had Kershaw's number this year, touching him up for eight earned runs over 11 1/3 innings this season.

Kershaw, who fanned nine Diamondbacks to increase his major league-leading strikeout total to 281, picked up his 15th win in the Dodgers' 6-3 victory.

Los Angeles' magic number to clinch the NL West is now four, and could be cut to three if the San Francisco Giants fall later Thursday to the San Diego Padres.