Starting pitchers tonight were lefthander Jon Lester (Chicago) and righthander Kenta Maeda (Los Angeles).
Lester was 19-5 in the season with a 2.44 ERA.
He was the winning pitcher in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Giants, striking out five batters in eight scoreless innings.
In the season, Lester pitched in two games against the Dodgers.
One of them was a complete game victory on June 1, the other was a no-decision.
In his career, Lester is 2-2 against the Dodgers.
Maeda was 16-11 in the season with a 3.48 ERA.
The Japanese righthander was the starting and losing pitcher in Game 3 against the Nationals.
He then threw only three innings and gave up four runs on five hits.
Tonight, Maeda faced the Cubs for the first time in his career.
The Dodgers reached base first, but the Cubs scored first in the first inning.
In the top of the first inning, Corey Seager singled with two outs for the Dodgers off of Jon Lester, but was forced out.
In the bottom of the first inning, Dexter Fowler led off for the Cubs with a single off of Kenta Maeda.
Moments later, he scored all the way from first base on a double into deep leftfield by next batter Kris Bryant.
Maeda eliminated the next two batters, but Chicago led 1-0.
...Dexter Fowler made 2 great catches...
...and homered for the Cubs...
...On the photo he is in the...
...Netherlands for the European...
...Big League Tour 2011 as a...
...player of the Colorado Rockies...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the second inning, the Dodgers reached base again.
Adrián González led off with a single, then Kiké Hernández walked with one out.
Hereafter, Jon Lester struckout Joc Pederson, but he then gave up a single to pitcher Kenta Maeda.
That could have loaded the bases, however, González was waved home, but he ended up short and was eliminated at the plate to end the inning.
Chicago answered with two runs.
Jason Heyward led off with a triple and then scored when Javier Baez followed with a double into short left-centerfield.
With one out, Baez advanced to third base on a wild pitch.
Shortly hereafter, Baez took off from third base, ran too far and appeared to come into a rundown, as catcher Carlos Ruiz threw the ball to third.
However, the throw was somewhat off the base and realizing he couldn't go back, Baez just kept on running towards the plate and eventually slid in safely with a stolen base to make it 3-0.
Hereafter, pitcher Jon Lester walked, but two pop-outs then ended the inning.
The defense also worked very well for the Cubs.
The top of the fourth inning ended with another great diving catch by centerfielder Dexter Fowler on a line drive by Carlos Ruiz.
In the third inning, Fowler also had made a diving catch on a line drive by Justin Turner.
In the top of the fifth, it was short stop Addison Russell, who caught a hard line drive by lead-off hitter Kiké Hernández.
In the top of the sixth, first baseman Anthony Rizzo made a great stop on a hard grounder to eliminate Yasiel Puig.
In the meantime, the Dodgers got on the board in the top of the fifth inning when pinch-hitter Andre Ethier homered with two outs.
Jon Lester, who dominated on the mound for the Cubs, was relieved in the top of the seventh after a pinch-hitter had batted for him in the bottom of the sixth.
Travis Wood took over and retired Adrián González, then was replaced by Carl Edwards, Jr..
He struckout pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal, but then walked Kiké Hernández.
Another pitching change followed, as Mike Montgomery was brougt in and he closed the inning by striking out Joc Pederson.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Dodgers loaded the base and came alongside.
First, pinch-hitter Andrew Toles led off with a single.
Hereafter, Pedro Strop took over for Montgomery, but walked pinch-hitter Chase Utley.
Next batter Justin Turner then reached on an infield-hit down the leftfield-line to third baseman Kris Bryant, whose only chance was trying to force out Toles, but was unsuccessful.
And that loaded the bases with no outs.
And that brought in hardthrowing closer Aroldis Chapman.
The Cuban lefthander began with a strikeout out Corey Seager, then also struckout fellow-Cuban Yasiel Puig.
But hereafter, Adrián González lined a single through the middle that brought in two runners and tied the score at 3-3!
Turner advanced to third base and moments later, González stole second base, but a grounder then ended the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Joe Blanton became the new pitcher for the Dodgers, but he was greeted with a lead-off double by Ben Zobrist.
With one out, Blanton walked Jason Heyward intentionally.
Wth that, it was opted to go the confrontation with hot-hitting Javier Baez.
That gamble worked out well, as Baez went after the first pitch he saw and popped out to rightfield.
It was the inning in which both Managers had to take several important decisions again.
One of those decisions was to walk pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan intentionally with runners on first and second base to force Chicago-Manager Joe Maddon to make a decision.
With the bases loaded and two outs, pitcher Aroldis Chapman was to be the next hitter.
When he would hit for himself, he would return to the mound in the next inning.
When a pinch-hitter would be inserted, the Dodgers wouldn't have to face the Cuban anymore.
Maddon indeed opted for a pinch-hitter and inserted Miguel Montero.
And that was the right decision, as with a 0-2 count, Montero drilled the ball into rightfield for a grand slam homerun!
With the Cubs now leading 7-3, next batter Dexter Fowler also homered to make it 8-3!
Hereafter, Kris Bryant doubled and that led to a pitching change, as Grant Dayton took over and ended the productive at bat.
Hector Rondon now became the new pitcher for the Cubs in the top of the ninth.
With one out, he gave up a single to Joc Pederson.
He then scored when next batter Andrew Toles doubled.
The game then ended when Chase Utley lined into a double play!
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Chicago 'slams' to win in NLCS-opener against Dodgers
CHICAGO, Illinois (USA) -
Chicago Cubs won 8-4 against Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday-evening (October 15) in an exciting and spectacular opener of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
The Cubs reached the NLCS first by winning the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants 3-1.
Last Tuesday, the Cubs trailed 5-2 in the top of the ninth of a thriller, then scored four runs to win 6-5 and advance to the next round.