It was a day for breaking out the brooms around the majors, with the Tampa Bay Rays leading the sweep parade.

Nine teams completed three-game series sweeps Thursday, none more impressive than the Rays, who polished off the team with baseball's best record.

Carl Crawford hit his second career grand slam, the biggest blow in Tampa Bay's seven-run, seventh-inning rally, in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

"It validates what we've been doing. It does give us more confidence. There's no question about that," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of the sweep. "I don't know how else I can say it. ... Hopefully it's going to catapult us even further."

Other teams to sweep Thursday were, the Dodgers, who beat Cincinnati 7-4; the Yankees, who beat San Diego 2-1; the Twins, who beat Washington 9-3; the Brewers, who beat Toronto 8-7; the White Sox, who beat Pittsburgh 13-8; the Royals, who beat St. Louis 4-1; the Orioles, who beat Houston 7-5; the Rockies, who beat Cleveland 6-3.

Also, it was Texas 5, Atlanta 4 and Arizona 2, Oakland 1.

At 43-29, the Rays have the third-best record in the majors behind the Cubs and Boston Red Sox. They're 14 games over .500 for the first time in franchise history and have set a club record for victories before the All-Star break.

The Cubs had been the only team in the majors that hadn't lost more than two games in a row this season. It looked as though it would remain that way when they chased Rays starter James Shields and took a 3-1 lead in the seventh.

But reliever Carlos Marmol (1-2) opened the door for Tampa Bay's biggest inning of the season by walking the first two batters he faced, then hitting the next two with pitches to force in a run and depart with the bases loaded.

"He's been extremely reliable. This sort of came out of nowhere," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "What are you going to do?"

At Baltimore, Alex Cintron had three hits, including one of the Orioles' three home runs, and Houston had its losing streak extended to eight games.Ramon Hernandez and Aubrey Huff also connected for the Orioles, whose last three-game sweep of an interleague opponent came in June 2005 — at home against Houston.

At Denver, Jorge De La Rosa struck out a career-high 10 and Willy Taveras had three hits to lead Colorado to a sweep of the three-game series.

At New York, Joba Chamberlain struck out a career-high nine and Alex Rodriguez had another key hit in the Yankees' seventh straight victory.Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth for his 20th save in 20 chances.

At Minneapolis, Michael Cuddyer hit a two-run triple and reached base all four times up and Glen Perkins won for the first time in five starts as Minnesota completed a three-game sweep.

At Milwaukee, Dave Bush took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning before it was broken up by the player he was traded for, and the Brewers held on.

At Arlington, Texas, Michael Young broke out of a slump with a game-ending RBI single and rookie Brandon Boggs hit a three-run homer as the Rangers rallied twice.

At St. Louis, Zack Greinke and two relievers combined on a two-hitter, and Kansas City completed its first three-game sweep of the Cardinals since 2001.Mark Teahen missed the cycle by a double and had three RBIs for the Royals, who are 7-2 in interleague play.

At Phoenix, Justin Upton hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning for Arizona.Upton drove a 3-2 pitch from Keith Foulke (0-2) into the pool area in right-center field.

At Cincinnati, Matt Kemp hit a homer and a two-run double, and Eric Stults pitched into the seventh inning in his season debut.