The Los Angeles Dodgers took multiple leads but suffered a 6-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs in 11 innings, getting swept for the first time this season. L.A. dropped to 1-6 in extra innings this season.
Walker Buehler began his night by striking out the side and holding the Cubs to just one hit through four scoreless innings. That came on a Matt Duffy chopper up the third base line that stayed fair and resulted in a leadoff double in the third despite having only a 66 mph exit velocity.
As Buehler was giving the Cubs a steady dose of fastballs, Max Muncy staked him a lead in the fourth inning with a second solo home run in as many games. Gavin Lux added to it with an opposite-field RBI double in the fifth. The extra-base hit was Lux’s first since April 3.
Duffy remained a thorn in Buehler’s side by dropping a sinking line drive into right field for a two-out base hit in the bottom of the fifth. Duffy to that point was responsible for both of the Cubs’ hits, but that quickly changed when Jake Marisnick followed with a game-tying home run.
L.A. loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth inning and jumped back ahead on Will Smith’s sacrifice fly. Though, it was still a missed opportunity as that was the only run the Dodgers managed to push across.
That immediately came into focus as the Cubs put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom half of the inning. Buehler worked out of the jam to preserve the Dodgers’ lead by striking out Willson Contreras and retiring Jason Heyward.
Blake Treinen’s struggles with preventing the leadoff man from reaching reared its head in the bottom of the eighth and was compounded by Corey Seager’s shaky defense. Rather than potentially turning a double play, Seager’s throw after making a backhanded stop went into left field.
That led to the Cubs tying the game when Javier Baez grounded into a force out.
Muncy added to his big night in the 10th inning with an RBI double off the wall in left-center field. The Cubs answered back, with Joc Pederson thinking he delivered a walk-off home run but settling for a game-tying sacrifice fly.
While they forced the game to the 11th inning, Chicago gifted the Dodgers a run when Anthony Rizzo fielded a grounder and threw to second base before stepping on the bag. Baez went for the tag instead of a double play, which allowed Muncy to score on the force out.
Garrett Cleavinger struck out the first two batters faced before allowing a game-tying base hit to Duffy and a walk-off single to Rizzo.
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