The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their assault on the franchise record books, thanks to solo home runs from Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor that held up for a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs.
It also gave the Dodgers 48 home runs in June, pulling them within five of tying a franchise record that was set last June for most in a single month.
In his MLB debut, Cubs starter Duane Underwood Jr. threw 41 pitches in the first inning. Fourteen of those went to Matt Kemp, who worked a two-out walk that loaded the bases.
Underwood escaped the jam, albeit with some good fortune, as Yasmani Grandal’s drive to center field was caught on the warning track.
Although Hernandez opened the second inning with a home run, and Max Muncy drew a leadoff walk in the third, Underwood needed just 36 pitches to get through the second, third and fourth innings. He finished with just the one run allowed, three walks and three strikeouts.
While Underwood settled in, Kenta Maeda was dominant from the get-go. He worked around a two-out walk in the first inning, allowed a single but otherwise struck out the side in the second and proceeded to retire eight in a row heading into the fifth inning.
That was broken up by Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff single, which was then followed by Ian Happ’s base hit. What was shaping to be a difficult inning for Maeda quickly took a turn for the best.
Chris Gimenez popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt, which resulted in Schwarber getting doubled up at second base. Pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella then grounded out to end another scoreless inning for Maeda.
He wound up tossing seven shutout frames, allowing just one hit, one walk and racking up nine strikeouts.
Scott Alexander had stellar defense behind him after the Cubs started the eight with back-to-back singles. A force out was followed by a double play, which preserved the Dodgers’ 1-0 lead.
Taylor’s home run in the bottom of the eighth provided necessary insurance as Kenley Jansen allowed a run to score on a sacrifice fly before converting his 18th consecutive save.
Los Angeles extended their winning streak to four games and improved to an MLB-best 26-9 since May 17.
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