Behind the arms of Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen the Los Angeles Dodgers limited the Chicago Cubs to just two hits to come away with a 1-0 victory in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, giving the teams one win apiece.
The NLCS now shifts to Dodger Stadium for Games 3, 4 and 5, beginning on Tuesday. Game 3 features another strong pitching matchup as left-hander Rich Hill faces off against right-hander Jake Arrieta.
Hill made two starts in the NL Division Series against the Washington Nationals. In Game 2 he gave up six hits and four runs in 4.2 innings, throwing 82 pitches. Hill then came back on short rest for Game 5 and allowed three hits and a run in 2.2 innings, throwing 55 pitches.
Hill has not faced the Cubs since 2011 when he entered in relief for the Boston Red Sox. He gave up one hit and struck out two in 0.2 innings. The Cubs drafted the veteran southpaw in 2002, and he was with the club from 2005-08.
Arrieta pitched just one game in the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants, as he gave up six hits and two runs in six innings. He did more damage with his bat, hitting a three-run home run off Giants ace Madison Bumgarner.
The Dodgers have not figured out how to hit Arrieta in the past two seasons. In August 2015, he threw a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium, with 12 strikeouts. He then tossed seven shutout innings against the Dodgers at Wrigley Field this season, allowing just two hits and striking out eight.
Three of the Dodgers’ four runs in the NLCS have been driven in by Adrian Gonzalez. He hit a two-run single off Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning of Game 1, and was responsible for the only run scored by either team in Game 2 as hit a solo home run off Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks.
Gonzalez is 3-for-7 with a walk in the series, and 7-for-27 (.259 batting average) with two walks this postseason.
While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts elected to keep his same lineup from Game 2, Cubs manager Joe Maddon made a couple changes.
He flipped his three and four hitters, as Ben Zobrist is now hitting third and Anthony Rizzo is in the cleanup spot. Both have struggled this postseason, with Rizzo just 1-for-23 and Zobrist only marginally better at 4-for-22.
Maddon also dropped Assison Russell down from fifth to seventh in the order. Russell is just 1-for-22 this postseason. Jason Heyward, who is 2-for-18 in the playoffs, sits in favor of the right-handed hitting Jorge Soler.
Dodgers lineup:
2B: Chase Utley
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
RF: Josh Reddick
CF: Joc Pederson
C: Yasmani Grandal
LF: Andrew Toles
P: Rich Hill
Cubs lineup:
CF: Dexter Fowler
3B: Kris Bryant
LF: Ben Zobrist
1B: Anthony Rizzo
2B: Javier Baez
RF: Jorge Soler
SS: Addison Russell
C: Miguel Montero
p: Jake Arrieta
