Still recovering from quadriceps tightness, Justin Turner was not in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs. That required Logan Forsythe to slide over to third base, which put Chase Utley at second base.
Turner was available to pinch-hit, and did just that with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. But Turner failed to add to the Dodgers’ slim lead, grounding into an inning-ending double play. It was the fourth double play the team hit into.
Los Angeles had left eight runners on base entering the ninth inning. They appeared destined to do so again after Utley drew a leadoff walk.
But with two outs, Andrew Toles, who opened the game with a home run, worked a full count. Toles at the point fouled off multiple pitches, with Utley running on each of them. The young outfielder finally struck out on a pitch that kicked away from Willson Contreras.
He went to complete the strikeout but threw low to first base and the ball got by Anthony Rizzo. Utley raced around to score an insurance run on the play, via Chad Moriyama of Dodgers Digest:
Utley’s run scored provided some breathing room for Kenley Jansen, who worked around a Rizzo one-out single to convert the save in a 2-0 victory.
