LOS ANGELES -- The anticipated meeting between the aces of clubs didn't materialize and the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of it.

Justin Turner and Joc Pederson homered and the Dodgers claimed a 4-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday night before 44,712 at Dodger Stadium.

The matchup between Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals, two of baseball's top pitchers, didn't occur after Strasburg (10-0, 2.90 ERA) was scratched with an upper back strain less than two hours before the opening pitch. Strasburg hurt himself last Saturday during a workout.

"I've tried to get treatment the last two days, and even today I was feeling a little bit better, but I still had some signs of inflammation and tightness, so they thought it was best not to push it too much," Strasburg said.

Kershaw (11-1), who won his 10th consecutive start, again pushed around the Nationals, limiting them to a run and six hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in seven innings. Kershaw beat Washington for the eighth straight time.

"The last inning I couldn't really get my slider where I needed to, and they did a good job of swinging at fastballs, and they got some ground balls that found some holes, but (Danny) Espinosa hit one rally hard and (second baseman) Howie (Kendrick) made an excellent play," said Kershaw, who is 10-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) against Washington. "That was probably the difference in the game right there. But I'll take it."

The Nationals (43-28) have dropped three in a row.

"He's the best in baseball," said Nationals right-fielder Bryce Harper, who struck out three times against Kershaw. "He's got everything working for him, so what you do is do the best you can and try to get him out of the game early. But when he's locked in, that's what he does. He's every special."

Reliever Joe Blanton worked a scoreless eighth inning before Kenley Jansen came on to pitch a perfect ninth for his 20th save of the season, becoming the Dodgers' franchise leader with 162 saves and breaking Eric Gagne's mark. Jansen also is the first Dodger with 20 saves in five seasons.

Yusmeiro Petit replaced Strasburg and pitched well, manager Dusty Baker said. Petit (2-1) gave up three runs and five hits with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings.

"He didn't do a good job, he did a great job," Baker said of Petit. "There aren't too many guys who could do what he did."

The Nationals tried to rally from a 3-0 deficit. A run-scoring single by Anthony Rendon allowed the Nationals to slice the Dodgers' lead to 3-1 with one out in the seventh. They had runners at second and third with two outs, but Kershaw forced pinch-hitter Chris Heisey to fly out to left.

In the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers tacked on a run when Chase Utley singled home Kendrick for a 4-1 lead.

Corey Seager went 2-for-4 with two doubles for Los Angeles (39-33), which won its fourth in a row.

Turner's solo shot to center with two outs in the first inning gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. With his 10th home run of the season and seventh this month, Turner extended his hitting streak to eight games. He has five homers during that span.

"I felt pretty good in the playoffs last year, but I wasn't hitting home runs. It just feels good to contribute," said Turner, who is hitting .467 with 11 RBIs during his streak, when he was asked if he could recall a hotter run.

Seager led off the fourth with a ground-rule double and scored on Turner's RBI single to right for a 2-0 advantage.

Pederson launched a blast in the fifth for his 13th home run to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead.

NOTES: The Dodgers will wait until Tuesday to activate RF Yasiel Puig (strained left hamstring), manager Dave Roberts said. Roberts seemed hesitant to throw Puig immediately into the line of fire against Nationals scheduled starter RHP Stephen Strasburg. However, Strasburg (upper back strain) was scratched less than two hours before the opening pitch. ... Washington manager Dusty Baker was asked about the pickoff move of LHP Clayton Kershaw before the game. "Well, he has a balk move; we've already looked at that, and I hope the umpires are aware of that. He had eight (balks), but they've only called two. He's only had 10 base runners (all season)," Baker joked. Kershaw has three balks overall. ... Washington RHP Tanner Roark (6-4, 3.14 ERA) will face Los Angeles LHP Scott Kazmir (5-3, 4.64) on Tuesday.