LOS ANGELES -- Fourteen months later, Brandon McCarthy surprised himself by shaking off the nerves he expected to have in his first start after more than a year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.I thought thered be more, but once I started getting loose it felt very normal, he said.McCarthy settled down to throw five scoreless innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 victory Sunday over the Colorado Rockies.Weirdly, it almost felt like Id taken a week off since last year. It felt like a continuation. That was a nice surprise. In the past, Ive had that before after a rehab where Ive come out and felt like a hyped-up rookie.McCarthy (1-0) held the Rockies to a pair of singles in his first major league start since April 25, 2015. He struck out eight and walked one.The Dodgers won their ninth straight at home and their sixth game in seven overall, powered by solo homers by Trace Thompson and Yasmani Grandal.Instead of crumbling after getting the news that Clayton Kershaw was headed for the disabled list, the Dodgers have won four straight.I think Kersh will tell you everyone is the same here, Thompson said. Obviously, were not. In our eyes hes the best player in baseball. We cant replace Clayton Kershaw. Everybody just has to do a little bit more, thats all it really is.Thompson homered to right-center off Rockies starter Jon Gray (5-4) to lead off the second inning, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.Grandal led off the eighth with a home run off reliever Chad Qualls that landed over the left-center field wall, just beyond the grasp of a leaping Charlie Blackmon.Daniel Descalso provided the Rockies only run with a homer on a 3-2 pitch from reliever Casey Fein with one out in the seventh.The Rockies were unable to get a baserunner past second base in the three-game series, scoring their only runs on solo homers by Descalso and Nolan Arenado. In the series, they managed just 12 hits in the three games while striking out a combined 41 times.It was just a terrible series. Way too many strikeouts, said Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez. Not creating situations for each other. It was just bad overall.I feel like the entire series was our fault. The pitchers did a great job. (Jorge De La Rosa) gave us a chance to win and we didnt. Gray pitched great today. You just have to blame it on the offense. You cant win if you dont score.Corey Seager lined a hard single to right in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, tying him with Miamis Marcel Ozuna for the longest in the National League this season. Seager went 2 for 4 and is hitting .415 during the streak (25 for 67).Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 24th save.Justin Turner had a one-out, RBI single in the second, his eighth hit in his last four games.The victory gave the Dodgers their fifth series sweep of the season, and their first over the Rockies since April 17-19, 2015.For McCarthy, the start was his fifth in a Dodgers uniform since signing a four-year, $48 million contract before last season. He was 3-0 in four starts before the elbow injury that required surgery.KERSHAW CLUBSince getting the news that Kershaw was going on the disabled list, Los Angeles starters (Kenta Maeda, Bud Norris, Scott Kazmir and McCarthy) over the last four games have given up one run and eight hits in 23 innings.LIGHTS OUT IN LAThe Rockies have scored just two runs in their last four games in Los Angeles, and one run or less in seven of their last 10 games, dating back to May 17, 2015. The Rockies are 5-17 in Los Angeles since June 16, 2014.RINSE, REPEATThe Dodgers came into Sundays game with a 46-37 record, the identical 83-game mark they posted in both 2014 and 2015.TRAINERS ROOMRockies: RHP Tyler Chatwood (back), sidelined since June 18, will start for the Rockies against the Giants. ... SS Trevor Story was much, much better as he recovers from a finger injury, manager Walt Weiss said. Hes swinging in the cage and looks really good. Its just a matter of if he gets jammed or hits a ball off the end of the bat, how is it going to affect him. Story pinch-hit in the eighth and struck out.Dodgers: Hyun-Jin Ryu could return to the Dodgers rotation as early as this week, said Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman. Ryu has made eight rehab starts as he recovers from surgery to repair his left shoulder, which has sidelined him since the beginning of the 2015 season. The Dodgers are deciding if Ryu needs one more rehab start.NEXT UPRockies: LHP Tyler Anderson will make his fifth start of his career Monday against the San Francisco Giants. The Rockies are 1/3 in Andersons four starts and have scored a combined three runs while Anderson has been pitching.Dodgers: LHP Julio Urias (1-2,4.09) makes the eighth start of his career Monday in the July 4 opener of a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles, his first interleague start. In his last five starts, Urias is 1-1 with a 2.49 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings. Custom Boston Red Sox Jerseys . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Custom Seattle Mariners Jerseys .B. -- The Baie-Comeau Drakkar took over sole possession of first place atop the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday with their sixth straight win. http://www.customjerseysbaseball.com/custom-minnesota-twins-jerseys-544x.html . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Custom St. Louis Cardinals Jerseys .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Custom Baltimore Orioles Jerseys .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Canberras surge to the NRL finals has suffered a possible setback after star Blake Austin came off with a shoulder injury in the sides strong win over Cronulla on Saturday.Austin landed awkwardly on the controversial tryscoring play that sealed victory over the Sharks and immediately came from the field clutching his right shoulder.Referee Ashley Klein had ruled Austin committed a double movement however was the decision was overturned when the bunker found two Sharks defenders had contributed to pushing the Raiders pivot over the line.The physios were trying to get a gauge on how I was feeling but I was too busy on letting the ref know that there was plenty of momentum and I was always going to make it into the in-goal, Austin said.Raiders coach Ricky Stuart will now be sweating on scans on his key playmaker, however Austin is hopeful he will be able to take the field in next weeks blockbuster against Melbourne.Im told its a possible rotator cuff. Hopefully its the sort of thing I can manage and get me through until the end of the season, Austin told AAP.Its the same shoulder I injured last year. Different injury, certainly not as serious.dddddddddddd Its about being professional about it and managing it through the season.Im pretty optimistic Ill be able to play through it. Id love to be facing the Storm next week.The injured soured the victory for the Raiders, who ended a 16-game unbeaten run for the Sharks that began all the way back in round three.Austin described the effort as their best of the year, but played down talk of being a title contender.We cant look at it like that, he said.Theres been a lot of talk about us believing the hype and buying into it but we cant do that yet because were not happy with the footy were playing. I think we can get a lot better.Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was quick to point out the Sharks were without veteran Michael Ennis and coming off a five-day turnaround, before labelling the Storm as the benchmark of the league.Melbourne are the best team in the comp. Were up against a really tough team next week. I reckon theyre the benchmark, he said. ' ' '