San Francisco: Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw pitched the big-money Dodgers to their third straight NL West title, tossing a one-hitter in an 8-0 win against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.

The Dodgers’ clinching performance came with the regular season in its final week and the race for play-off berths nearing a climax.

Most interest on Tuesday was on the tight American League West, with Texas edging Detroit to stay two games clear on top. The Los Angeles Angels moved into second, half a game ahead of Houston, while the Angels notched their seventh straight win by downing Oakland and the Astros gave up a lead to lose at Seattle.

Elsewhere, the New York Yankees lost at home against eternal rivals Boston and missed a chance to stitch up the wild card berth.

Los Angeles’ Kershaw allowed just a single in the third inning and struck out 13 as the Dodgers advanced to face the New York Mets in the best-of-five NL Division Series.

Kershaw (16-7) struck out the side in order three times and retired the final 19 batters as the Dodgers snapped a four-game losing streak.

The Dodgers earned a third straight play-off berth for the first time in franchise history, and did so by snapping a seven-game losing streak at San Francisco this year.

Texas’ Cole Hamels won his sixth consecutive decision, overcoming a shaky start to strike out eight in six innings as the AL West-leading Rangers beat Texas 7-6.

Next for Texas is a four-game home series against the Angels, which will decide the AL West winner.

Hamels is 6-1 in 11 starts since getting traded from Philadelphia at the end of July, and the Rangers have won his past nine starts. The outing took him past 200 innings in a season for the seventh time in his career and past 200 strikeouts for the fourth time.

Los Angeles’ Albert Pujols had an RBI double among his three hits, helping the Angels win 8-1 at Oakland.

Erick Aybar drove in three runs for the Angels, who are in the race for both the AL West title and the second AL wild card, half a game ahead of Houston in both.

With four games in Texas to close the season, the Angels are in control of their play-off destiny no matter the result of the wild card race. Rebounding splendidly from an awful August, Los Angeles are a majors-best 18-8 in September.

Houston lost ground with a 6-4 loss at Seattle, with Shawn O’Malley hitting a two-run, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning for the Mariners. Seattle had lost their previous six games.

The Yankees missed a chance to seal play-off participation when they lost 10-4 at home against Boston.

— AP