The Los Angeles Dodgers reached the conclusion of their seven-game road trip, needing a win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field to finish above .500 before returning to Dodger Stadium.
Chase Utley opened the game with a leadoff single to center field, but was erased on a Corey Seager double play. Kyle Hendricks then struck out Justin Turner on a check swing to end a scoreless first inning.
Julio Urias’ second career Major League start began on a brighter note than his debut. Dexter Fowler did reach on a jam-shot single, but Urias was out of the inning two grounders later, with the latter of the two a double play.
Hendricks easily worked his way through the second inning, setting Adrian Gonzalez, Joc Pederson and Trayce Thompson down in order on a pair of groundouts and fly out.
Urias ran into some bad luck in the bottom of the second, getting squeezed on a couple of pitches to Anthony Rizzo, with the plate appearance ending in a leadoff walk. Jorge Soler then hit a slow chopper that got by Gonzalez for an infield single that left two on with no outs.
Javier Baez hit a one-out flare single into left-center field to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Pederson didn’t field the ball cleanly and his error allowed both runners to take an extra base. That proved key as Miguel Montero drove a run in with an RBI groundout.
CONTINUE READING: Cubs hammer Dodgers with long ball
Carl Crawford was hit by a pitch to start the third inning and was moved into scoring position with two outs on Urias’ sacrifice bunt. Hendricks got out of the inning unscathed by getting Utley to line out.
Urias worked around a Jason Heyward one-out single in the bottom of the third to keep the Cubs’ lead at 2-0. The Dodgers continued to spin their wheels at the plate as Turner’s walk in the fourth was followed by Gonzalez grounding into an inning-ending double play.
Baez did more damage in the bottom of the fourth, connecting for a two-run homer that extended the Cubs’ lead to 4-0. Trayce Thompson ensured the Dodgers would not be shut out, with his solo home run trimming their deficit to 4-1.
However, Chicago quickly answered with a back-to-back solo home runs from Heyward and Kris Bryant. Bryant’s was a moonshot that hit off the large video board behind the left field bleachers. Urias retired the next two batters to complete his fifth and final inning of work.
Kiké Hernandez pinch-hit for the young lefty and reached on an infield single in the sixth. A grounder to the right side and wild pitch put Hernandez on third base with one out. He then scored on Seager’s sacrifice fly.
Chris Hatcher tossed two scoreless innings of relief, striking out the side in the seventh to give him five strikeouts on the day. After Hendricks again set the Dodgers down in order in the eighth, Rizzo hit a solo home run off J.P. Howell to push the Cubs’ lead to 7-2.
Travis Wood came on in the ninth to and got through the inning without issue to finish off the Cubs’ victory.