Los Angeles got into scoring position right away in the top of the first inning off of Jake Arrieta, who dominated in this game.
With two outs, Justin Turner walked and Yasiel Puig singled, but Arrieta closed with a strikeout.
He added two more strikeouts in the second inning.
After being retired in order in the first inning by Alex Wood, Chicago opened the score in the second at bat.
Wood began with a strikeout for Anthony Rizzo, but then gave up a homerun to Willson Contreras off the video-scoreboard in leftfield.
Hereafter, Wood struckout Addison Russell, but then it was Javier Báez, who drilled the ball into leftfield for a homerun to put Chicago ahead 2-0.
Wood closed with another strikeout, but the Dodgers trailed 2-0.
In the top of the third inning, the Dodgers cut the deficit in half when Cody Bellinger homered with one out.
Alex Wood retired the side in the third and fourth inning, but then gave up another homerun int he fifth.
The lefthander again began with a strikeout for Addison Russell, but then Javier Báez again connected well and hit his second homerun in the game to make it a 3-1 score.
Before today's game, Báez was 0-for-20 in the postseason.
Wood followed with another strikeout (his seventh), but when next hitter (and pitching colleague) Jake Arrieta singled, he was relieved by Ross Stripling, who got an inning-ending grounder.
In the top of the seventh, the Dodgers got some baserunners, but were uable to score.
Yasmani Grandal led off with a walk, but with one out, he was forced out on a grounder by pinch-hitter Joc Pederson.
After the latter had advanced on a wild pitch, Chris Taylor walked, which ended the evening for Arrieta.
Brian Duensing took over and got a flyout that ended the inning.
...Javier Báez hit two homeruns for the Cubs...
...On the photo, he hits for Puerto Rico...
...against the Netherlands in the Semi-Final...
...of the 2017 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the eighth inning, closer Wade Davis took the mound for the Cubs, but he was greeted with a lead-off homerun by Justin Turner that narrowed the deficit to 3-2.
Davis followed with a walk for Yasiel Puig, but then got a pop-out from Andre Ethier.
That brought veteran Curtis Granderson into the batter's box.
Granderson, who played in centerfield tonight, had struckout each time in his previous three at bats.
On a 2-2 count his fourth at bat, Granderson swung miss at the next pitch, which was called a strike, but he stated that it was a foul-tip.
However, on replays, it showed that he didn't touched the ball, which ended up on the ground in the glove of catcher Willson Contreras.
With that, it would have been his fourth strikeout of the evening, as a completing throw to first base was not needed, as that was occupied.
A foul-tip is not reviewable via a challenge, but the umpires of course can discuss it between themselves.
Initially, Home Plate Umpire Jim Wolf said it was no foul ball, but after a request from Dodger-Manager Dave Roberts, he discussed the pitch with his five colleagues.
After the discussion, Wolf walked back to the plate, signaling that it had been a foul ball (and thus a foul-tip), meaning Granderson's at bat was extended.
That led to an angry reaction from Chicago's Manager Joe Maddon.
In the meantime, the swing of Granderson was shown on the big video-scoreboard in leftfield, resulting in more reactions from the 42,000 spectators.
The video showed that Granderson swung over the ball and appeared to not touch it with his bat, or it must have barely grazed the top of the ball.
Maddon continued to argue fiercely over the reversed strike-call and was ejected by Rightfield Umpire Mike Winters, who is the Crew Chief in this Series.
Maddon also had been ejected in Game 1, making him the first Manager ever to have been ejected twice in the same postseason Series.
When the game resumed, Davis struckout Granderson after all on the next pitch.
However, hereafter, he walked Yasmani Grandal, which gave the Dodgers two runners and put the tying run on second base.
Davis then closed by striking out another veteran, Chase Utley.
The Cubs were retired in order in the sixth and seventh inning by three relievers, but reached base again in the eighth.
New pitcher Tony Cingrani hit lead-off hitter Jon Jay with a pitch, then gave up an one-out single to Albert Almora, Jr., but a force out and groundout followed.
Wade Davis also pitched the ninth inning for the Cubs.
He struckout lead-off hitter Austin Barnes, then walked Chris Taylor.
But hereafter, Cody Bellinger grounded into a game-ending double play that kept the minimal lead intact and earned Davis a save.
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Cubs avoid NLCS-sweep with small win against Dodgers
CHICAGO, Illinois (USA) -
Chicago Cubs won 3-2 against Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday-evening (October 18) in Game 4 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series to avoid a 4-game sweep.
Los Angeles opened the Series on Saturday with a 5-2 victory, then won 4-1 on Sunday.
The Dodgers won the third game with a 6-1 score in Chicago to take a 3-0 lead in the Series.
Game 5 will be played on Thursday in Chicago.
Chicago collected only five basehits, but three of them were homeruns.
Second baseman Javier Báez belted two, catcher Willson Contreras accounted for the third one.
Los Angeles, which had four hits, also scored both its runs on homeruns, hit by Cody Bellinger and Justin Turner.
Chicago's Manager Joe Maddon was ejected for the second time in this Series.