LOS ANGELES (AP) – Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw has been scratched from his scheduled start on Sunday by the Los Angeles Dodgers because of a sore right hip.

The announcement was made during batting practice before Saturday night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers entered the day trailing St. Louis by a game for the second NL wild-card berth.

Kershaw may have to undergo arthroscopic surgery if the pain persists, which would be another blow to a rotation that lost starters Chad Billingsley and Ted Lilly to season-ending injuries.

Kershaw is 12-9 with a 2.70 ERA and NL-leading 206 strikeouts, after going 21-5 with a 2.28 ERA and major league-best 248 strikeouts in 2011.

The five-year veteran left-hander also was scratched from a scheduled start Sunday in San Francisco before coming back with seven innings last Monday at Arizona and giving up an unearned run and three hits in a 1-0 loss.

Rookie right-hander Stephen Fife will make his fourth start of the season for the Dodgers against Adam Wainwright in the finale of the four-game series.