The Los Angeles Dodgers continued to roll on Monday with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the first of a four-game series at Dodger Stadium.
It was a nice bounce-back for Los Angeles after suffering a series loss to their National League foe at Wrigley Field last week. The Dodgers, fresh off sweeping the New York Mets, were tasked with solving Cubs rookie Duane Underwood Jr. in his first career Major League start.
Underwood had previously made 13 starts for Triple-A Iowa prior to receiving his promotion and immediately noticed the differences between the two levels of play.
He relished making his debut on the road at Dodger Stadium and specifically praised the atmosphere, highlighting the tens of thousands of fans in attendance, via Carrie Muskat of MLB.com:
“That third deck that everybody talks about? That’s a real thing,” Underwood said. “It was cool making my debut here — Dodger Stadium. This is a beautiful place and this is a center point in baseball. I really enjoyed it — it was fun.”
Underwood logged four innings pitched in his first career MLB start, yielding two hits and one run in the contest. He was tabbed with a no-decision, but it wasn’t without running into a bit of trouble in the first inning.
After striking out leadoff hitter Joc Pederson, Underwood walked the No. 2 batter Max Muncy and then allowed a single to Justin Turner.
The right-hander recovered by getting Cody Bellinger to pop out but now faced a difficult challenge in retiring Matt Kemp for the third and final out of the frame.
The Dodgers slugger eventually won the battle as the 14-pitch plate appearance ended in a walk to load the bases. That left Underwood in awe, who later revealed that it was surreal facing one of his baseball idols in Kemp:
“That was beautiful,” Underwood said of the at-bat. “For me, it was poetry in motion, going back and forth with the guy. That was a great at-bat for me, especially idolizing the guy growing up. Going one vs. one was great.”
The Dodgers look for similar results against the Cubs on Tuesday when they send Ross Stripling to the mound for his 11th start and go for a series win.
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