Dodgers complete sweep of Tampa Bay

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Dodgers are showing no signs of slowing down.

Clayton Kershaw lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.88 with eight innings of three-hit ball and had a two-run single, and the Dodgers increased their NL West lead to a season-best seven and one-half games Sunday night with an 8-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

“When you rattle off a streak like the one we’re on right now, it’s probably a little more than luck,” Kershaw said. “We’re a pretty good team right now, and it’s a lot of fun coming to the yard every day and winning games. I think the guys in this clubhouse realize that we’ve got a pretty good opportunity here that we don’t want to waste.”

Mark Ellis had a homer and three RBI to help Los Angeles complete the three-game sweep. The Dodgers improved to a major league-best 37-8 since June 22, including a franchise-record 15-game road winning streak. At their lowest point, they trailed Arizona by nine and one-half games.

“We’ve got 40-plus games left and we play the Diamondbacks a lot more, so it doesn’t really matter what kind of lead we have now,” Kershaw said. AP