Continuing his late-season dominance, Max Scherzer threw seven shutout innings to lead the Dodgers past the Reds 5-1 in the second contest of a three-game set in Cincinnati.

After Sunday’s affair, 13 games remain on the Dodgers’ regular-season schedule.

Gavin Lux continued his clutch hitting for the Dodgers, contributing the game’s biggest offensive blow in the fifth inning. After a Justin Turner double to left and an infield single by Chris Taylor, Lux roped a triple to right to clear the bases.

Austin Barnes drove in Lux one batter later on a fielder’s choice grounder to extend the lead to 3-0. Los Angeles tacked on another run in the sixth when Taylor laid down a bunt that plated Trea Turner on a safety squeeze play.

The Dodgers’ final run of the day came when Barnes scored on a Mookie Betts single to left field.

Despite the much-needed offensive spurt, the real story of the day was Scherzer, who seemingly took control of the National League Cy Young race with his latest outing.

Scherzer’s seven innings of work took 96 pitches. He allowed two hits and two walks while striking out seven batters. The effort improved his season record to 15-4 with a MLB-leading 2.08 ERA.

Over his last two games, Scherzer has thrown 15 shutout innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out 16. Since being traded to the Dodgers before the summer deadline, he has gone 7-0 in nine starts, registering a 0.780 ERA with 79 strikeouts over 58 innings pitched.

Rookie second baseman Jonathan India and former Dodger Kyle Farmer collected the only two hits for the Reds.

Joe Kelly threw a scoreless eighth inning. Alex Vesia ran into trouble in the ninth when he allowed a walk to Joey Votto and a single to Mike Moustakas. Votto scored after a throwing error by Corey Seager that would have ended the game.

Kenley Jansen struck out Eugenio Suarez to secure the final out of the game while collecting his 34th save of the year.

At the beginning of the day, the Dodgers trailed the Giants by two full games in the NL West division race. San Francisco continues their three-game weekend series against the Braves later Saturday evening.

In Sunday’s series finale, the Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw to the mound, who makes his second start since being activated from the injured list. Kershaw will face fellow lefty Wade Miley, who has a 12-5 season record with a 3.05 ERA.

Sunday’s first pitch is set for 10:10 a.m. Pacific time.