Winning the final game of the three-game series in Chicago, the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed the road set with strong starting pitching. Right-hander Hiroki Kuroda tossed a solid outing a day after left-hander Ted Lilly had a shaky start in his return to his prior team and city. Kuroda knew he had to deliver significant time from the mound, and he did by pitching 6.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on nine hits while fanning seven Cub batters and walking none. Kuroda is now 3-2 for the year with an ERA of 3.21.

“I had really good movement on the splitter today,” Kuroda says. “With five runs of support, I felt responsible for winning this game.”

Relievers Mike MacDougal, Blake Hawksworth and Jonathan Broxton shutdown Chicago thereafter for the Dodgers’ 7-3 victory that moved them to one game above .500 at 12-11.

Outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier continued their hot performances. Kemp went two-for-five with an RBI and two runs, and kept his batting average above .400 (.402). Ethier extended his hitting streak to 21 games after an RBI single in the first inning. He finished two-for-five with a run scored while posting a .382 batting average.

“It’s about going up there and executing and being confident,” Ethier states. “It’s nice knowing I don’t have to do too much with guys in front of me and behind me doing their jobs and picking me up. It makes my job a lot easier.”

But what else happened Sunday afternoon? James Loney went one-for-five with two RBI, newcomer Jerry Sands had an RBI double and showed great promise defensively and Aaron Miles collected three hits (a triple, two singles) an RBI and a run scored.

Although the Dodgers left 16 runners on base, they managed to plate seven runs. In the first game of the series, they scored 12 runs before grabbing eight in the second game (which they should have easily won).

Los Angeles continues its six-game road swing with three games in Miami against the Marlins, beginning Monday, April 25 at 4 p.m.