For a third time in the National League Championship Series, the Chicago Cubs struck first behind a solo home run. Just like in Games 1 and 2, Game 3 at Wrigley Field ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers securing another win.
Following in the footsteps of Albert Almora Jr. and Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber took Yu Darvish deep to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Their lead was short lived, as Andre Ethier lined a game-tying home run just over the wall in right field in the second.
From there, it was Darvish and Chris Taylor who led the way against Kyle Hendricks. Taylor tagged the right-hander for a go-ahead solo home run to straightaway center field in the third inning.
Then in the fifth, Taylor caught the chalk down the left-field line for an RBI triple. With two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Darvish was allowed to bat for himself.
The decision, like all others for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts this postseason, worked perfectly. Carl Edwards Jr. failed to locate the plate and walked Darvish on four pitches to bring in a run.
Curtis Granderson had been on deck to pinch-hit but was pulled back after Joc Pederson flied out. “I just felt we had a two-run lead right there, and Yu was throwing the baseball really well, and I felt he could continue to go and get us outs,” Roberts explained of his decision.
“So right there, obviously you have Grandy available, but to still go out there — and Edwards has really been tough on left-handed hitters. So to still get a base hit, it’s not a gimme at all.”
In the eighth inning, Charlie Culberson struck out swinging on a pitch that crossed up Willson Contreras and got away. A run scored on that play, and Kyle Farmer followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a decided 6-1 lead that held as the final score.
Darvish allowed just the one run, six hits, and struck out seven over 6.1 innings. He’s 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 11.1 innings pitched across two postseason starts for the Dodgers.
