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Loney drives in three as Dodgers sweep Diamondbacks

Sep 8, 2008 - 12:44 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- What a difference a week can make in the National League West.

James Loney drove in three runs and Nomar Garciaparra snapped a tie with sacrifice fly in the seventh inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 5-3 win on Sunday.

Andre Ethier added an RBI single for the Dodgers (73-70), who extended their lead in the NL West to 1 1/2 games over Arizona (71-71) by pushing their winning streak to eight games.

"Everything is just working out for us right now," Ethier said. "We just try to go out there and have a good time and keep playing good baseball."

Los Angeles was 4 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks after losing on August 29, but has since won five games in a row against its closest division rivals and swept lowly San Diego to pull into first place.

"Being swept was the worst case scenario for us," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We just have to start playing more consistent baseball soon, since the season is coming to an end."

Loney put the Dodgers on top early when he singled in a pair of runs in the first inning.

"We just wanted to get to (Arizona starter Max Scherzer) early and give (Los Angeles starter Clayton Kershaw) some runs to work with and settle down," Loney said. "I have just been trying to swing at pitches I can handle and just stay relaxed at the plate."

Arizona scored single runs in the second, third and fourth to grab a 3-2 lead, but Loney forged a 3-3 tie in the sixth when his sacrifice fly scored Ethier from third base.

"We got down and did a good job battling back to get the win," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "Coming into this series, we wanted to win at least two games. But a sweep is even better."

Rookie Blake DeWitt sparked the rally in the seventh with a leadoff ground-rule double and moved up on first baseman Adam Dunn's error before coming in on Garciaparra's sacrifice fly.

The Diamondbacks had a chance in each of the last two innings, but Los Angeles closer Jonathan Broxton stranded a pair of inherited runners in the eighth and worked out of a jam in the ninth when Garciaparra made a diving stop on Conor Jackson's line drive to end the game. Broxton recorded his 13th save.

The Dodgers now will embark on a 10-game road trip through San Diego, Colorado and Pittsburgh.

"(We) just are playing with a lot of confidence right now, and we just need to stay focused and play well on our long road trip," Loney said.

A pitchers' duel between rookies Scherzer and Kershaw never materialized, with each phenom out of the game by the sixth inning. Scherzer struck out 11 and allowed three runs in five frames while Kershaw yielded three runs in four innings.

"I felt like I had my stuff working for me today," Scherzer said. "They are just a hot team and the mistakes I made hurt me. We just need to put this series behind us and get ready to play tomorrow."

Hong-Chih Kuo (5-2) picked up the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.