Howie Kendrick missed his second straight game with stiffness in his left knee. The veteran second baseman said that he improved considerably since missing Thursday’s game, and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is confident that Kendrick can avoid the disabled list.

“It feels really good,” Kendrick said. “I can do a lot more today.”

Kendrick suffered the injury running the basepaths in the second inning Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies. He scored in the inning, and played out the game, only to feel pain in the knee afterward.

“Once my adrenaline wore off I knew it was going to be sore,” he said. “The next day it was really stiff.”

Kendrick is batting .285 with a .347 on-base percentage, five home runs and 23 RBIs in 52 games this season.

Kiké Hernandez is playing second base tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals and Scott Schebler was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to give the Dodgers an extra bat. Justin Turner, Alex Guerrero, A.J. Ellis and Chris Heisey are the hitters other than Kendrick on the bench tonight.

Mattingly wouldn’t rule out Kendrick being able to enter the game off the bench — he never does with players who are on the active roster — but Kendrick seemed to be leaning toward taking a night off.

“The less I do right now,” he said prior to the game, “the better.”