CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw allowed two runs and six hits in five innings during Wednesday nights injury rehabilitation stint with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. A 29-pitch first inning kept Kershaw from being dominant, but he still finished with nine strikeouts. "I would like to have gotten through six or seven innings, but I had a good time working with these guys," Kershaw said. "Its tough when pitch counts are in the back of your mind. Obviously the main goal of why I was here was to get my pitch count up and be ready for 100-plus pitches in the big leagues. "At the same time, youre trying to compete, too. Fortunately for me, I am kind of done with that and can go pitch now." Kershaw threw 86 pitches Wednesday after tossing 56 Friday during his first rehab stint at Rancho Cucamonga of the Class A California League, when he allowed two hits in five scoreless innings. He opened this season getting a win for the Dodgers over Arizona in Australia on March 22 but went on the disabled list for the first time in his career several days later with a strained upper back. "Ive learned I dont like it," Kershaw said of his DL stint. "As much as you try and be a part of this team, our team is playing right now while Im in Chattanooga. Its a weird process for me, and you kind of feel isolated a little bit. Hopefully I never have to do it again." Kershaw said he feels healthy but didnt know when he would be joining his big-league teammates. John Andreoli drew a leadoff walk for the Smokies in the first inning, and Dustin Geiger drove in the first run off Kershaw with a two-out double to left. Geiger singled to left in the fifth inning to score Andreoli again. Kershaws appearance resulted in a sellout crowd of 6,318. "I think its pretty great for this city to get to see Clayton Kershaw, one of the great pitchers in the game doing a rehab assignment," Dodgers player development director DeJon Watson said. "Its a great opportunity for them to see our overall brand of baseball and having Clayton Kershaw as a model of what we do from an organizational standpoint. Were trying to get him in the best position to get him prepared to get him back in the big leagues, and coming here kind of worked out the best. "The competition level is pretty good here, and he was forced to execute good pitches in key counts." Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . -- Derek Jeter spoke for 25 minutes, 44 seconds and answered 26 questions about his decision to retire at the end of this season. Cheap Adidas Bruins Jerseys . They find themselves trying to knock each other out in the Western Conference finals for the second straight year. The Blackhawks prevailed last year on their way to the Stanley Cup, and they have the early lead this time after taking the opener, 3-1. http://www.cheapbruinsjerseys.com/ . One out away from finishing off an impressive shutout, they let a must-win game slip away. Cheap Boston Bruins Jerseys . Or at least on everyone elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process. Cheap Bruins Jerseys . According to TSN Edmonton reporter Ryan Rishaug, agent Rick Valette met with Oilers senior VP of hockey operations Scott Howson and general manager Craig MacTavish on Monday to kick off the talks.ALBANY, N.Y. - About one-third of professional mixed martial arts matches end in knockout or technical knockout, indicating a higher incidence of brain trauma than boxing or other martial arts, according to a new study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine. University of Toronto researchers examined records and videos from 844 Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts from 2006 to 2012 for the study published this month. They found that 108 matches or nearly 13 per cent ended in knockouts. Another 179 matches, or 21 per cent, ended in technical knockouts, usually after a combatant was hit in the head five to 10 times in the last 10 seconds before the fight was stopped. "Were taking the premise with this that what you see on TV is one thing, but to kind of add scientific rigour to document it objectively," said Michael Hutchison, co-author and director of the concussion program at the universitys MacIntosh Sports Medicine Clinic. With the technical knockouts, or TKOs, they reviewed videos and found "an increasing number of repetitive strikes to the head" during the last 30 seconds of a match, he said. Professional mixed martial arts includes elements of wrestling, judo, boxing and kickboxing inside an enclosure with fighters wearing small, fingerless gloves and no headgear. Officials from UFC, the sports major brand, seeking approval to stage bouts in New York have argued that mixed martial arts has evolved over 20 years with many safety regulations to protect fighters, including mandatory suspensions after concussions. They say its safer than boxing, where fighters tend to take repeated blows from padded gloves, with no history of deaths or traumatic brain injuries sustained in the ring. Lawrence Epstein, chief operating officer of UFC, called the Toronto study "somewhat flawed" and said a forthcoming study by researchers who have enrolled nearly 400 active and retired fighters will provide better insight. "By partnering with the Cleveland Clinic, one of the worlds leading medical research institutions, on advanced studies aimed at not only preventing long-term brain injuries, but also identifying those predisposed to them, the UFC demonstrates true commitment to the safety of all professional athletes," Epstein said. Preliminary results from the Cleveland studies found athletes with higher exposure to head trauma — based on a formula including number of fights, years fighting and fights per year — were likelier to score lower on cognitive testing. Researchers conducting the free, ongoing assessments of fighters brain health are examining factors like genetics, lifestyle or head trauma exposure and susceptibility to injury. The Toronto researchers, who examined UFC matches, found the time from a knockout blow — often a punch to the jaw — until maatches were stopped averaged 3.dddddddddddd5 seconds with losers on average getting hit 2.6 more times to the head. With TKOs, they found that in the last 30 seconds before a match was stopped the loser was hit on average 18.5 times, 92 per cent of those to the head. Hutchison acknowledged that unlike the knockouts, which meet the criteria for brain concussions, they cant definitively identify the particular injury from a TKO. Professional rules say that happens when a referee stops a fight because one competitor can no longer defend himself. "We can accurately suggest ... this cant be good for their health," he said. Citing data from other research, the study said the mixed martial arts head trauma rate also outpaces football and hockey. The researchers proposed introducing rules like in boxing where a fighter gets a 10-second count and evaluated after a knockdown. They also proposed more training to help referees to identify fighters who are defenceless or have lost consciousness so they can stop fights more quickly. "Given that participation at amateur levels of the sport is growing rapidly, we expect to see high rates of traumatic brain injuries at more junior levels of amateur competition," the researchers wrote. "These points strongly argue for banning the sport in youth and for preventive strategies to reduce the burden of traumatic brain injuries in professional MMA fighters who elect to fight." Hutchison wasnt saying whether mixed martial arts should be legal or not, only that adults should know the risks so they can make informed decisions. People are inherent risk takers, and some do it with drinking, smoking, skydiving or other activities, but they should be aware, he said. Most states have legalized and regulated professional mixed martial arts although some are silent on the matter. New York is the only state that prohibits such fights and longstanding efforts to get it legalized recently stalled again for advocates hoping to gain access to Madison Square Garden and other New York venues. The state Senate has passed the bill for several years and put it in a proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but it has not cleared the state Assembly. New York state Sen. Joseph Griffo sponsored legislation that would legalize the sport and subject amateur mixed martial arts to state oversight that would include more stringent rules and regulations like those employed by amateur boxing. Regulation would also help the state go after the underground fights with paying audiences that are occurring now, especially in New York City, he said. "I think everybody would agree the objective is to be very sensitive and do everything possible with preventing trauma to the head," Griffo said. "I dont think in any way that should prevent the sport." ' ' '