The Cubs came to Los Angeles on a tear, having won nine in a row and sitting in first place in the NL Central.
But L.A. is often where dreams come to die, and Chicago’s visit has a similarly unhappy ending.
Not at first, of course—on Friday night, the Cubs set a franchise record, winning their 10th game in a row. And with a Hollywood ending: after dropping three runs to L.A. in the 3rd and another in the 4th, the Cubbies caught fire, or rather, Dansby Swanson did. A triple in the 7th brought in two runs, and a go-ahead homer in the 9th put the final score at 6-4 for the visitors.
But the streak ended on Saturday, in decisive fashion, with the Dodgers scoring six in the 4th. Shohei Ohtani also broke out of his slump with a single in the first and a stolen base to help the stat line. Solo homers by Cubbies Seiya Suzuki, Moisés Ballesteros, and Miguel Amaya weren’t enough to keep pace with the home team, who evened the series with a 12-4 victory.
With it all left to play for on Sunday afternoon, the Ohtani started off strong with a lead-off single which he quickly followed up with another steal. He scored on a sac fly to go up by one, then a double from Miguel Rojas scored Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker for three in 1st.
The Dodgers added another pair in the 6th, then Ohtani put it away in the 7th. Batting lead-off, he took the first pitch 382 feet into center field for his sixth HR of the year.
The Cubs SoCal road trip continues, with the team heading down the road to face NL West #2 San Diego Padres, while the Dodgers get a chance to add to their record hosting the 13-15 Miami Marlins.
Article and photos: Jim Sabo
