Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Kyle Hendricks (Chicago) and lefthander Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles).
Hendricks was 16-8 this season with a 2.13 ERA and 170 strikeouts in 190 innings.
He also was the starting pitcher for the Cubs in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers.
He then gave up only three hits (one of them a homerun) in 5 1/3 inning, but also walked four batters and was the losing pitcher in what was an 1-0 loss.
In the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants, Hendricks started one game, but then left in the fourth inning after being hit on his arm by a line drive.
This season, Hendricks started one game against the Dodgers and was the winning pitcher, giving up three hits in eight innings.
In his career, he is 2-1 against the Dodgers.
Kershaw also started Game 2 of the NLCS against the Cubs.
In the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, Kershaw was the starter and winner of Game 1, then had a no-decision in Game 4 and came back to the mound in Game 5 to earn a save.
Tonight, he made the 18th postseason-appearance in his career.
In the regular season, Kershaw was 11-2 with an 1.79 ERA, but missed more than two months due to a herniated disc in his lower back.
He didn't pitch against the Cubs during the seasonm but he is 5-3 against Chicago in his career.
In the top of the first inning, the Dodgers reached base immediately off of Cubs-starter Kyle Hendricks, as lead-off hitter Andrew Toles singled on his first delivery.
On the next pitch, Corey Seager also connected, but he grounded into a double play that was started by second baseman Javier Baez.
A flyout then ended the inning.
The Cubs also struck right away in its first at bat off of Dodger-starter Clayton Kershaw and even opened the score immediately.
He saw his third pitch to lead-off hitter Dexter Fowler end up down the rightfield-line for a ground-rule double.
Moments later, Fowler scored the first run when Kris Bryant singled into rightfield.
Hereafter, Anthony Rizzo drove the ball into leftfield, where Andrew Toles missed catching it.
As the ball dropped to the ground for an error, Rizzo reached second base, while Bryant andvanced from first to third base.
Bryant then scored when Ben Zobrist followed with a sacrifice fly.
Last year, Zobrist won the World Series with the Kansas City Royals.
A pop-fly in the infield then accounted for the second out, but should have been the third in the inning.
A grounder ended the at bat, but Chicago was leading 2-0, one of the runs being unearned.
...History was made tonight in...
...historic Wrigley Field...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
In the top of the second inning, with one out, Josh Reddick reached base for the Dodgers when Javier Baez committed an error on his grounder.
Hendricks followed with a strikeout, then picked off Reddick at first base to end the inning.
The Cubs got into scoring position again (and scored) in the second inning off of Kershaw.
The lefthander had thrown 30 pitches in the first inning, which was his highest total since 2011.
In the second, he gave up a lead-off double to Addison Russell.
With two outs, Dexter Fowler delivered a runscoring single.
Just after Russell scored, Fowler was eliminated in a rundown, as he tried to advance to second base.
With that, the inning ended, but it was now 3-0 in favor for Chicago.
After Hendricks retired the Dodgers in order (two strikeouts) in the top of the third, the Cubs again got a runner in scoring position moments later.
With one out in the bottom of the third, Anthony Rizzo doubled and moved to third base when Ben Zobrist flied out.
This time, the Cubs were held scoreless, as Kershaw closed by striking out Javier Baez.
Hendricks again retired the side in the top of the fourth, then was supported with another run, as Willson Contreras led off the bottom of the fourth with a homerun.
And that made it 4-0.
Hendricks continued his dominance in the fifth and sixth, retiring the side for the third and fourth consecutive time.
In the bottom of the fifth, Chicago added another run when Anthony Rizzo homered with two outs.
Hoping to limit the deficit, Dodger-Manager Dave Roberts went to his bullpen after five innings and brought his closer Kenley Jansen to the mound in the bottom of the sixth.
The Curaçao-born righthander retired the side.
In the top of the seventh inning, Hendricks again got three consecutive outs.
With that, he had retired 16 batters in a row and still had faced the minimum amount of batters.
He had given up only one basehit (on his first pitch), but that was followed by a double play.
After Jansen had retired the side in the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers reached base again the eighth for the first time since the second inning.
After having retired 17 batters in a row, Kyle Hendricks gave up an one-out single to Josh Reddick and that marked the end for the righthander.
Aroldis Chapman took over and his third pitch to pinch-hitter Howie Kendrick ended in an inning-ending double play.
With that, the Cubs were three outs away from reaching the World Series.
And they got those outs moments later.
Aroldis Chapman first struckout pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández, but then walked pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz.
Hereafter, Cuban Yasiel Puig became the third pinch-hitter for the Dodgers and faced his fellow-countryman Chapman.
Puig made contact on the first pitch he saw, but grounded into a game-ending double play.
And with that, the Cubs will play for the first time in the World Series since 1945!
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Chicago Cubs return to World Series after 71 years!
CHICAGO, Illinois (USA) -
Chicago Cubs won 5-0 on Saturday-evening (October 22) against Los Angeles Dodgers to reach the World Series for the first time since 1945!
With the win, the Cubs won the best-of-seven National League Championship Series 4-2 to return the Championship Final for the first time in 71 years!
Tonight, Kyle Hendricks dominated on the mound for the Cubs.
He gave up only two basehits, before being relieved in the eighth.
The Cubs struck early off of Dodger-ace Clayton Kershaw and were leading 5-0 after five innings.