The adage is almost as old as baseball itself: Th

e route to winning a title is playing .500 ball against the best teams but beating up on the lesser-record teams.The Los Angeles Dodgers are getting part of the equation right. After defeating the first-place Colorado Rockies 9-6 on Sunday Francisco Cervelli Jersey , they’re 9-7 against one of the teams they’re chasing for the National League West title and 7-9 against the other, the Arizona Diamondbacks.They’re also a combined 8-6 against the other two NL first-place clubs, going 5-2 against the Atlanta Braves and 3-4 against the Chicago Cubs. They’re 4-3 against the Milwaukee Brewers, who currently lead the NL wild-card standings.Article continues below ...Los Angeles took two of three in Denver despite being without closer Kenley Jansen (irregular heartbeat) to close to within one-half game of Colorado in the NL West. Justin Turner was 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits Sunday — a homer and two doubles — and Enrique Hernandez also homered.“We’re trying to chase those guys down,” Turner told the team’s website. “The bullpen answered the bell, we won the two games we had a lead. We scored runs, got into the other team’s bullpen in the third inning.”But the Dodgers, who open a three-game series against the last-place Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Monday night, aren’t entirely taking care of business against the teams that could give them a path to a sixth consecutive division.They’re 2-4 against the last-place Miami Marlins and 0-4 against the Reds, who swept them in a four-game series at Dodger Stadium on May 10-13 — arguably the highlight of the Reds’ season and the lowest point of the Dodgers’ season. Outside of that series, Cincinnati is 57-83 in 2018.If it weren’t for the San Diego Padres http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , who’ve dropped 12 of 16 to their southern California rivals, the Dodgers would be having a frustratingly poor season against the teams they theoretically should be defeating.At least they’ll be sending a pitcher to the mound Monday night who knows how to beat the Reds, who’ve lost eight of 12 and 13 of 18. They lost 7-6 Sunday to the San Diego Padres in a game that didn’t end until almost 9 p.m. EDT because of a 92-minute rain delay.Left-hander Alex Wood (8-6) will be looking to improve to 4-0 in his career against the Reds, although he hasn’t faced them since June 6, 2017. In that game, he held the Reds to one run and four hits in eight innings before Jansen finished a 3-1 Dodgers win at Great American Ball Park.Overall, Wood is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in four career starts against Cincinnati, limiting their hitters to a .184 average. He will be pitching for the first time in a week, or since he didn’t figure in the decision as the Dodgers lost 4-2 to the New York Mets last Monday in Dodger Stadium. He allowed one run and five hits in five innings. Wood is 7-1 with a 2.39 ERA and a .229 opponents’ batting average in his last 13 starts. He’ll face left-hander Cody Reed (0-2), who is coming off a 7-3 loss Tuesday to the Pittsburgh Pirates in his first Reds start since April 9.Reed gave up six runs and nine hits in five innings in Pittsburgh after going 4-8 with a 3.92 ERA in 17 starts with Triple-A Louisville. This will be his 15th career start since debuting in the majors in 2016, a year after Cincinnati acquired him from the Kansas City Royals in the Jonny Cueto trade. The Reds are 0-14 in his previous starts.Reed http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , who is 1-10 with a 6.22 ERA in 35 career major league games, tried putting a positive spin on his most recent start.“I know that I’m jamming guys, I’m getting the ball in, working away, up and down,” Reed said. “I felt fine. I was throwing strikes, threw five (innings) and battled. I made it through five and tried to keep my game in it as much as I could.”The Dodgers haven’t played in Cincinnati since sweeping a three-game series there June 16-18, 2017, outscoring the Reds 21-10. CLEVELAND (AP) — Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians are rolling along quite nicely. And help is on the way.Kluber pitched seven sparkling innings, Edwin Encarnacion homered and the Indians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Friday night.AL Central-leading Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games, and then finalized a trade for 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson. The Indians sent a player to be named to the Blue Jays for cash considerations and Donaldson Corey Dickerson Jersey , a slugging third baseman who has been limited to 36 games this season because of injuries.Kluber (17-7) allowed two singles, struck out eight and walked two in Cleveland’s AL-best 14th shutout this season. Cody Allen worked a perfect eighth and Brad Hand finished the two-hitter for his 31st save.It was an encouraging outing for Allen, who lost the closer job during a tough August.“Just because Cody ran into a hiccup there, we never lost confidence in him,” Kluber said. “He’s not one of the best closers that we’ve had in this organization for no reason. We all have the same goal here and that’s to win. I thought he looked real good tonight.”Pitching for the third straight day, Allen helped the Indians retire the last 17 batters. He was 0-2 with two blown saves and an 11.57 ERA in his previous six appearances.“This is a special group we’ve got and these guys are my bros,” Allen said. “I’m not surprised the way they’ve stayed behind me and picked me up. We’ve got very, very high character guys who care a great deal about each other.”Kluber, making a bid for a second straight AL Cy Young Award, matched Yankees ace Luis Severino for the major league lead in wins. He also moved into first place in the AL with 186 2/3 innings.“I thought Klubes was really crisp and I thought Cody looked tremendous,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “Cody should feel really good. He should because he’s worked hard. Now Austin Meadows Jersey , we’ve got to keep him there.”Encarnacion snapped a scoreless tie with a solo drive to center off Tyler Glasnow (1-4) in the seventh. The Indians added two more in the ninth when Greg Allen scored on a wild pitch and Michael Brantley singled home Francisco Lindor.Glasnow struck out six in a career-high seven innings. He was working on a no-hitter before Melky Cabrera singled with two out in the fifth.“I was really impressed with the way Tyler threw the ball,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “He was just awesome to watch and went toe to toe with arguably one of the best in the game. We couldn’t get anything done offensively, but Kluber’s numbers speak for themselves.”Joey Wendle hit a leadoff single in the first and Tommy Pham singled in the fourth for Tampa Bay’s only hits. The Rays are 9-2 since Aug. 19, matching their best 11-game run in four years.RIVALRY RENEWEDFrancona and Cash are close friends who enjoy kidding each other. Cash fired the opening volley by stealing Francona’s dugout chair before the game. Francona responded with a scoreboard graphic entitled “How bad is Kevin Cash at the plate?” that featured his statistics.TRAINER’S ROOMRays: C Michael Perez was placed on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. … OF Mallex Smith (viral infection) begins a rehabilitation assignment Saturday with Single-A Charlotte. Smith fell ill and was hospitalized last week. Cash said the leadoff hitter could be activated when he is eligible on Monday.Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (right fibula stress fracture) underwent a second bone scan and will learn the results Saturday. The All-Star was struck by a line drive on Aug. 11 and is expected to be out until mid-September.UP NEXTRays LHP Blake Snell (16-5, 2.05 ERA) takes on Indians RHP Shane Bieber (8-2, 4.52 ERA) in the second game of the series. Snell is tied for third in the majors in victories behind Severino and Kluber.