Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Kenta Maeda (Los Angeles) and lefthander Jon Lester (Chicago).
Maeda made his third start of the postseason today.
He also started Game 1 for the Dodgers against the Cubs and then had a no-decision.
In that game, the Japanese righthander was unsuccessful, as he walked three batters and gave up four hits and three runs in four innings.
He also had a disappointing outing during the NLDS when he was the losing pitcher in Game 3 against Washington Nationals, giving up four runs and five hits in three innings.
In the season, he was 16-11 with a 3.48 ERA.
Lester was 19-5 this season with a 2.44 ERA and 197 strikeouts.
The lefthander also was the starting pitcher for Chicago in Game 1 of the NLCS.
He then gave up four hits in six innings, but had a no-decision in the game, which was won 8-4 by Chicago.
In the regular season, Lester pitched in two games against the Dodgers, including a complete game-victory.
He had a no-decision in the other.
In his career, Lester is 2-2 against the Dodgers.
Chicago struck early off of Kenta Maeda, scoring a run in the top of the first inning.
Dexter Fowler led off the game with a single, then scored on an one-out double by Anthony Rizzo.
Hereafter, Ben Zobrist walked, but the Japanese righthander then struckout Javier Baez and Jason Heyward.
...In today's game, Alfonso Marquez was the HP Umpire...
...In 2013, he was behind the plate in the game between...
...the Netherlands and Cuba in Round 2 of the...
...World Baseball Classic in Tokyo (Japan)...
...On the photo, he has a discussion with...
...Netherlands Manager Hensley Meulens...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Los Angeles also got on base immediately in its first at bat off of Jon Lester.
He walked lead-off hitter Kiké Hernández, then followed with a strikeout for Justin Turner, but then gave up a single to Corey Seager.
But a flyout and groundout then ended the inning.
Maeda did fine in the next two innings.
He struckout a batter in the second, then added two more in the third inning.
Maeda struckout his sixth batter in the fourth, but he did that with two runners on base.
Javier Baez led of with a double, then Jason Heyward was hit by a pitch.
Maeda then struckout Addison Russell and saw David Ross flyout.
With pitcher Jon Lester being the next hitter, Maeda was replaced by Josh Fields, who retired the Chicago-hurler.
The Dodgers were retired in order in the second, but then got into scoring position again in the third.
With two outs, Justin Turner singled and stole second base, but hereafter Lester struckout Corey Seager.
But in the bottom of the fourth, the Dodgers came alongside.
With one out, Howie Kendrick doubled.
He then stole third base and while he touched the base before being tagged, he was called out by 3B Eric Cooper
That was challenged, resulting in an overturn of the call, meaning Kendrick reached third base safely.
Moments later, Kendrick scored the tying run on a grounder by Adrián González.
In the top of the fifth, Kris Bryant doubled with one out for the Cubs, which resulted in another pitching change.
Grant Dayton took over from Josh Field and retired the next two batters.
In the bottom of the fifth, Lester retired the side, including two strikeouts.
Chicago re-took the lead in the top of the sixth inning off of new pitcher Joe Blanton.
He gave up a lead-off single to Javier Baez, who then stole second base.
With one out, Addison Russell homered to make it a 3-1 score on favor of the Cubs.
Russel also homered the day before in Game 4.
Veteran catcher David Ross then doubled, but he stranded on second base.
In the seventh, the Cubs got into scoring position again, but were held scoreless.
With one out, Luis Avilan became the new pitcher for the Dodgers and gave up a single to Anthony Rizzo, then walked Ben Zobrist.
But a flyout and pop-fly followed.
In the bottom of the seventh, trailing 3-1, Adrián González led off for the Dodgers with a bunt and initially was ruled safe at first base by 1B Umpire Ted Barrett.
The Cubs challenged the call and after reviewing the video-replay, the call was overturned and González was ruled out.
With two outs, Joc Pederson singled, but was left behind.
...Carlos Ruiz hit an RBI-double...
...for the Dodgers...
...he came to LA in August in...
...a trade with Philadelphia Phillies...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
The Cubs then rallied for five runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a decisive lead.
Pedro Baez took over the Dodger-pitching, but then committed an error taking over first base on a grounder by Addison Russell.
Pinch-hitter Willson Contreras followed with a single, then the two runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Albert Amora.
Dexter Fowler followed with a runscoring single.
First baseman Adrián González fielded the ball, who initially briefly looked home whether he could throw there and because Baes was not taking over first base, he ran there himself, but ended up just short.
Moments later, another run was scored on an infield-hit by Kris Bryant.
The safe-call at first base was challenged by the Dodgers, but it was upheld.
With that, the Cubs now had runners on first and second base.
With the score now at 5-1 and one out, Anthony Rizzo lined out to second baseman Kiké Hernández.
The latter then doubled up Fowler at second base, but the Cubs challenged the out-call by 2B Umpire Bill Welke successfully.
And so, instead of having an inning-ending double play, there were now two outs and there were still runners on first and second base.
In the remainder of the inning, the Cubs added three more runs and put the game almost out of reach for the Dodgers.
The bases got loaded when next batter Ben Zobrist walked, resulting in a pitching change.
Ross Stripling took over, but he was greeted with a 3-run, baseclearing double by Javier Baez that made it an 8-1 score.
Hereafter, when the ball was briefly bobbled in rightfield, it appeared that Baez (who sometimes wants to do too much) wanted to continue to third base, but then slightly injured himself when he overran the base.
In the bottom of the eighth, Chicago-starter Jon Lester was replaced by Pedro Strop.
The Dominican/Dutch righthander gave up a lead-off double to pinch-hitter Andrew Toles, then hit next batter Justin Turner with a pitch.
That created a force play-situation and that's was Strop needed and also what happened, as Corey Seager grounded into a double play.
Hereafter, Toles scored on a double by Carlos Ruiz, but he was left behind on second base himself.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Dodgers cut the deficit in half off of closer Aroldis Chapman by scoring twice.
The Cuban walked lead-off hitter Adrián González, then gave up a single to Yasiel Puig, which put runners at first and third base.
Puig was then forced out on second base on a grounder by Joc Pederson.
Hereafter, González scored on a single by Josh Reddick, then another run was added on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Toles.
Moments later, Reddick stole second base, but that was to be it for the Dodgers, as the inning and the game ended when next batter Justin Turner grounded out.
|
Chicago wins again; World Series in sight!
LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -
Chicago Cubs won Game 5 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday-evening (Ocober 20) with an 8-4 score to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
The Series now moves back to Chicago, where Game 6 will be played in Wrigley Field on Saturday.
With the win, Chicago is now one win away from realizing a historic feat and that is the return to the World Series.
The last time, the Cubs played in the Fall Classic was 1945!
The last time, the Cubs won the title was 1908!
When the Cubs win on Saturday, it will set up a historic World Series, as it will face Cleveland Indians, which last celebrated a title in 1948!