Five-run eighth leads Cubs to comeback win over Dodgers |
LOS ANGELES - It was a bit of a cultural affair at Dodgers Stadium on Tuesday, as two of the most prized pitchers took the mound in Japanese stars Shota Imanaga and Yoshinbu Yamamoto. Imanaga has been nothing short of dominant this season, as he has 13 wins, more starts than walks allowed, and should be in the running for Rookie of the Year.
Yamamoto has dealt with some injuries this season and was making just his second start since returning from the IL. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this was that neither of these guys had ever faced each other in Japan, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. Knowing that these were the two most prized pitching possessions this offseason, fans expected this to be a great game, and it delivered. Despite three Los Angeles Dodgers (86-59) home runs off of Imanaga, all three were solo shots as the efforts from the Chicago Cubs (75-70) kept his team in the game. “He’s exceeded our expectations,” Jed Hoyer said recently. “I mean, we thought we were getting a really good starting pitcher. The year he’s had this year – his record after losses and the length he’s given us and even just from a makeup and cultural standpoint, he’s been awesome. “He’s been a breath of fresh air the whole time. He’s been outstanding. Hope he keeps building off this. But it’d be hard to say that we expected this kind of performance from him this year.” That alone helped them rally in the eighth inning as the Cubs benefitted from a trio of eighth-inning errors to score five times before Pete Crow-Armstrong ended the game with his glove in the ninth to lift Chicago to a series-clinching win 6-3. Talk about a game of two contrasting styles, at least early on, as the Dodgers came out swinging against Imanga. The left-hander threw four pitchers to the first four hitters, and Los Angeles came out with an aggressive approach. The Cubs, on the other hand, had to deal with someone who was well on his way to setting a strikeout record. He struck out eight of the first nine outs he recorded before his pitch count ended his night before the fifth. Even with Yamamoto mowing the Cubs down, Chicago jumped on the Dodgers for the second straight night as they took an early 1-0 lead in the second. That came off a trio of singles, including one from Crow-Armstrong that deflected off Freddie Freeman to allow Isaac Paredes to score as PCA was just warming up for what was a massive night for him. While the Cubs were trying to single Yamamoto to death, the long ball continued to bite Imanga. In his outing, he allowed three homers, but fortunately, all three were solo shots. That included a pair of homers to the former St. Louis Cardinal Tommy Edman, who led the bottom of the second off with a game-tying shot before giving the Dodgers the lead in the fourth. Take the homers away, and Imanga was brilliant again as he struck out four and walked none across another seven-inning start. You also saw him do something he rarely does as a fly ball pitcher was get a massive double play off the bat of Shohei Otani in the third to kill a rally and kept things tied early on. After dominating the Cubs through four innings, Dave Roberts pulled Yamamoto due to pitch count, as the Dodgers wanted to make sure he was 100% healthy for the postseason. While that may have seemed like a good thing for the Cubs, the Dodgers bullpen has been a strength for this team, and with Ryan Braiser and Blake Treinen tossing a pair of scoreless frames to kick off their nights, the Cubs continued to search for more answers at the plate. With the game in the hands of the Dodgers pen, things weren't looking good for the Cubs, especially after Max Muncy unloaded for a leadoff homer to begin the top half of the fifth to put the Cubs in a 3-1 hole. Then came the seventh when the Dodgers started things off with a pair of singles from Andy Pages and Miguel Rojas to start the inning only to have the Cubs defense, in particular PCA, bail them out as he made an incredible catch on Enrique Hernandez to end the inning and kept things at 3-1. Entering the eighth inning down by two, the Cubs were in familiar territory, but a spot they didn't want to be in. Heading into this game, Chicago was 2-41 when trailing by two runs or more in the eighth inning or later, which is a common theme for a lot of teams. After Ian Happ walked to lead off the inning, forcing David Roberts to return to his pen and bring in Evan Phillips, the Cubs took advantage as the Dodgers defense started to look like the Chicago White Sox. Compare that to the overall play from PCA and the rest of the Cubs outfield; this was the difference as the Dodgers committed three massive errors in that eighth inning, which opened the floodgates for what was a massive frame. That all started with an error that allowed Dansby Swanson to reach only to have Seiya Suzuki come through with a single to pull the Cubs within 3-2. They would tie things up on that play as a second straight error allowed for the tying run to score, and just like that, this was a 3-3 game. Not about to mess around with Cody Bellinger, the Dodgers intentionally walked him to put him on base and were one pitch away from escaping things without further damage. That was until the third error of the inning allowed for the go-ahead and game-winning run to score before a Nico Hoerner double pushed the Cubs lead to 5-3. Crow-Armstrong closed out the eighth inning with an RBI groundout as the Cubs stormed back to take a 6-3 lead with their pen set to take over. For the second straight Imanaga start, the combination was Imanaga for seven, Nate Pearson for one, and then Porter Hodge for one as the Cubs were three outs away from another win. After retiring the first two hitters he faced in the ninth, Hodge walked Rojas before Miguel Amaya and the trainer came out to look at him. What looked to be a scary situation, Hodge was having a hard time catching his breath and after several minutes he told the staff he was ready to continue. A few warmup pitches later he was ready to go as Muncy was the last hope for the Dodgers. Muncy did his part by blasting one to right field for what looked to be his second homer of the night, only to have the kid PCA come down with the catch to rob the Dodgers as the Cubs picked up the 6-3 win. "Against great offenses, you know you need to make plays, and you need to make those plays to stop rallies to just give your pitchers a chance,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell after the win. "Pete was incredible tonight. He made some really special plays. The last one capped it off. That one's gonna be played a lot, for sure, and deserves to be." PCA CALLS GAME. Unlike last night, when every player had a hit, three players in the Cubs lineup failed to record a hit, although the team still had 11. Suzuki led the way with a quiet three-hit night. It was his third hit that tied things up and started the game-winning rally. Hoerner also added three hits, with Paredes and Crow-Armstrong adding two, as they did most of the damage. The Cubs will look for the Sweep on Wednesday as Jordan Wicks takes the ball against Bobby Miller. #Cubs Pete Crow-Armstrong after robbing Max Muncy of a homer pic.twitter.com/xAEJEUf3AY
CATCH OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE? pic.twitter.com/cChYVrt8S0
