LOS ANGELES -- Bud Norris is soaking up his time with the surging Los Angeles Dodgers.Norris pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, and the Dodgers held off the Tampa Bay Rays for a 3-2 win on Tuesday night.Ive had some down years in my career, but this is what it is all about, winning baseball games and being in a pennant race, Norris said.Norris (6-9) allowed two hits and walked two in 6 1/3 innings in his longest outing since he was acquired in a June 30 trade with Atlanta. Yasmani Grandal homered against Chris Archer in the seventh as Los Angeles (57-44) won for the fourth time in five games to remain 2 1/2 back of NL West-leading San Francisco.I knew it was gone, Grandal said. When you hit a ball on the sweet spot and the guy is throwing 96 or 97 miles per hour you pretty much know the ball is gone.Tampa Bay scored two runs in the eighth, but the rally fizzled from there. Kenley Jansen worked the ninth for his 30th save in 35 chances.Archer (5-14), a potential trade target for contenders ahead of Mondays non-waiver deadline, struck out eight while pitching seven solid innings. He was charged with three runs, one earned, and four hits.It was a good outing but we lost, Archer said. Its hard for me to look at personal performances when you lose. I could have done better.Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said it was Archers best start of the season.He attacked the strike zone and threw 71 percent strikes, he said. Hes definitely not a 5-14 pitcher. We made mistakes and they took advantage of it.Los Angeles used two errors to grab a 2-0 lead in the third.Joc Pederson reached with one out when first baseman Steve Pearce dropped second basemans Logan Forsythes throw. Pederson advanced on Norris sacrifice and went to third when Chase Utley reached on Archers high throw to first.Corey Seager and Justin Turner then hit consecutive RBI singles. Seager extended his hitting streak to nine games.Earlier in the year we werent winning games like this, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. For us as a team to win that one-run game is obviously a huge lift.Brad Miller hit an RBI double and Logan Forsythe scored on a wild pitch to trim Los Angeles lead to 3-2 in the eighth. Luis Avilan got Kevin Kiermaier to pop up with the tying run on third to end the rally.Los Angeles left fielder Howie Kendrick went 0 for 3, stopping his 16-game hitting streak. The Rays dropped to 5-16 in July.TRAINERS ROOMRays: RHP Chase Whitley (Tommy John surgery) is scheduled for a minor league rehab start on Saturday.Dodgers: OF Yasiel Puig did not start for the fifth consecutive game due to a hamstring strain. Andrew Toles replaced Puig in right field and went 0 for 3.MILESTONENorris struck out Kiermaier in the fourth inning for his 1,000th career strikeout.UP NEXTRays: LHP Matt Moore (6-7, 4.31 ERA) will start Wednesdays game.Dodgers: RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-0, 1.61 ERA) will pitch in the series finale Wednesday. In his last outing, McCarthy gave up two runs in 6 1/3 innings. Cheap Air Jordan 11 Retro Gold . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. Cheap Air Jordan 11 Retro All Blue . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. http://www.cheapjordans11online.com/cheap-air-jordan-11-retro-yellow/ . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Cheap Air Jordan 11 Retro Black . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. Cheap Air Jordan 11 Retro Rose . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Just over a month after being held to single digits by an FCS team, Northwestern has solved a lot of problems offensively.Justin Jackson rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns, and the Wildcats moved the ball almost at will after a slow start, beating Michigan State 54-40 on Saturday night to hand the Spartans their fourth straight defeat.Clayton Thorson threw for 281 yards and three TDs for the Wildcats, who rallied from an early 14-0 deficit. Michigan State (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) is now mired in its longest losing streak in coach Mark Dantonios 10 seasons at the helm.Northwestern has won three of four since starting the season with losses to Western Michigan and Illinois State. The Wildcats managed only seven points against Illinois State, but that seems like a long time ago now that theyve scored 38 against Iowa and 54 on the defending Big Ten champions.Our guys have really been grinding, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. Earlier in the year we werent a very good team. ... We could either pout and feel sorry for ourselves and start to point fingers, or we could just stay on the grind and keep the pedal down.The Spartans hadnt lost four in a row since 2006, and this was the most points theyd allowed since a 56-21 loss to Wisconsin in 2003.Northwestern held Michigan State to 3 yards of offense in the second quarter.Theres no easy fix, Dantonio said.The Spartans made a change at quarterback for this game, starting redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke instead of Tyler OConnor, but Michigan States problems extend well beyond one position.The Spartans went back to OConnor in the third quarter, and he threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns, but Michigan State couldnt stop Northwestern (3-3, 2-1) with any consistency.Solomon Vault returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to put the Wildcats up 40-31, and the Spartans never made it closer after that.Michigan State is off to its worst start after six games since 1994, when the Spartans were 2-4 and later forfeited away the wins.TAKEAWAYSNorthwestern: The Wildcats have to be encouraged by the ease with which they shrugged off an early deficit Saturday, and although the secondary was beaten for a couple long touchdowns in the second half, Northwestern will win itts share of games if it can keep creating big holes for Jackson.ddddddddddddIt was a good one today, but I think were just showing what we can do, Thorson said. Passing the ball, running the ball, everything.Michigan State: Dantonio shook things up by starting Lewerke at quarterback, then watched his defense give up so many yards and points it didnt really matter who was throwing passes for Michigan State. The Spartans were a mess on defense and still dont block well enough on offense to put together many sustained drives.Its almost like everybodys at a loss for words, OConnor said. We feel like weve been saying everything that we think we need to fix and working as hard as we can to fix it, and everybody understands that we need to get better.OConnor did do his best to reclaim the quarterback spot with his work late in the game.NEW FACELewerke had attempted only four passes this season before becoming the first Michigan State freshman to start at quarterback since Stephen Reaves in 2004. Lewerke opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Price in the first quarter, but the offense bogged down again in the second.Dantonio was noncommittal about his quarterback situation afterward.I thought both guys obviously did some good things, and both guys obviously did some things theyd like to have back, Dantonio said. So well look at it and evaluate it.TOUGH STARTMichigan State took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter when Justin Layne scored on a 43-yard interception return. That was the last touchdown the Spartans scored for a while.We knew that they were going to try and knock us out early. Their backs are against the wall, Fitzgerald said. We basically got what we expected, and it was disappointing with our start, but I really loved the way our guys responded. We didnt flinch.UP NEXTNorthwestern: The Wildcats host Indiana next weekend.Michigan State: The Spartans play at Maryland on Saturday night. If you dont count games forfeited from 1994, the last time Michigan State lost five games in a row within one season was when the Spartans dropped their first five in 1991.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '