Dodgers’ 8-5 win over Chicago Cubs is pure relief

How routine. Just another Dodgers victory, just another game that reduced their magic number for clinching the division to four games.

Of course, they used all their relievers in their final road game of the season, and it wasn’t by choice.

But they meshed together six pitchers and another strong dose of offense to down the Cubs, 8-5, on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Expanded September rosters, what a thing.

Six was actually two fewer pitchers than they’d used the day before, so all things considered, the Dodgers had to be happy with their makeshift pitching group.

With Hyun-Jin Ryu out with a sore shoulder, Jamey Wright, Carlos Frias, Chris Perez, Paco Rodriguez, Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen combined to “hold” the Cubs to five runs on eight hits.

Perez (1-3) may have done the most to boost his playoff roster chances, retiring all four batters he faced. He was credited with the victory, his first as a Dodger and first since Aug. 14, 2013. Jansen pitched a scoreless, if shaky, ninth to earn his 43rd save.

The Dodgers tried to make it easy for their bullpen group, scoring a pair of runs in the first to take an early lead they never relinquished, though the Cubs closed to within 2-1 and 5-4 before the Dodgers added three insurance runs.

Offense wasn’t the Dodgers’ problem on their 10-game road trip. In their last nine games, they averaged 8.3 runs per game.

The Dodgers finished the regular season 49-32 on the road, the best record in the National League.

Now, of course, comes the main event. The Dodgers will try to clinch the National League West during their three-game showdown series against the Giants, beginning Monday at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers would like to bring their road offense home with them. They managed another 16 hits Sunday, four from Matt Kemp, who also drove in four runs. Kemp hit a two-run homer in the third, his 23rd of the season and seventh this month.

Yasiel Puig had a pair of hits and scored a career-high four times. Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford and Juan Uribe all added two hits apiece. The Dodgers scored in six different innings, offense suddenly everywhere.

The Dodgers scored their first five runs on eight hits against right-hander Jacob Turner (1-4). They left nine runners on base, but were eight for 17 with runners in scoring position.

Jansen still made it yet another nervous victory when the Cubs put runners on the corners with no outs. But Jansen caught Javier Baez looking, got Anthony Rizzo to bounce out to third and struck out Luis Valbuena on a check swing to preserve the win.