Game Recap: Dodgers double up Cubs to close out MLB Tokyo Series

Darren Yamashita - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 11 hours ago

TOKYO - No one will argue that the Chicago Cubs (0-2) were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to Japan to start the season. Even if it was a bit unorthodox regarding scheduling and the timing of the games, it was still an opportunity the Cubs couldn't pass up, even if it were against the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (2-0).

Coming off a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday, the Cubs had a chance to close out the Japan Tour with a win before returning to Arizona to resume Spring Training. What better way to do that than by throwing your Ace, Justin Steele, as he was up against the game's top prospect Roki Sasaki?

As has been the case throughout the Spring, Steele wasn't as sharp as he needed to be as the Dodgers touched him up for five runs in four innings, which is all they would need in a 6-3 victory to sweep away the Cubs. Steele has had an interesting Spring and now start to the season, to say the least, as he has shown flashes of being the overpowering pitcher he has been, but has also been roughed up a ton. That needs to change for the Cubs to be the team they want to be.

The real story was one of the most anticipated debuts in quite a while as Sasaki took the ball for the first time. When asked how Craig Counsell would approach Sasaki, he mentioned that he wanted to come out aggressively to get him out of the game early. Part of that came through with Sasaki only going three innings, but that was because he walked five as opposed to three strikeouts instead of getting hit hard.

Scoreless entering the second, it was the Dodgers striking first as a leadoff walk followed by the Max Muncy double had the Dodgers in business with no outs. Los Angeles managed to grab the lead for good off a passed ball while the Enrique Hernandez sacrifice fly extended the Dodgers lead to 2-0. The Cubs had an opportunity to battle back at the bottom of the second with Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson working a pair of walks, only to have Pete Crow-Armstrong line into an inning-ending double play.

Already with two runs across, the Dodgers offense continued to make life miserable for the Cubs starters as a two-out Tommy Edman homer in the third extended the Dodgers lead to 3-0. Homers were undoubtedly part of the Dodgers offense as this was the first of three straight innings with a homer. Despite not being able to string a ton of hits together against Sasaki, patience kept the Cubs in the game as Jon Berti picked up a one-out single in the bottom of the third to set the offense up.

That single was followed by a trio of walks, including the bases-loaded walk to Kyle Tucker, as the Cubs were on the board 3-1. The Cubs had a golden opportunity to tack on more runs, but it was Sasaki bouncing back to strike out Busch and Matt Shaw to end the inning as the Dodgers dodged a major bullet 3-1. This was also the best scoring chance of the day for the Cubs, so letting that slip away was a massive gut punch.

While the Cubs offense was struggling to get much of anything done, the Dodgers offense wasn't with Will Smith leading off the fourth with a double and then coming home on the Hernandez homer to break the game open 5-1. Steele finished the fourth, but the damage was done as the Cubs were in a massive hole.

With Sasaki being lifted in favor of Luis Garcia in the fourth, you had a feeling that the Cubs would figure out a way to battle back into this game. However, with Garcia retiring the first two hitters in the fourth, things looked bleak until a Carson Kelly walk kept the inning alive. Throw in a pair of singles from Berti and Ian Happ, and another run managed to come as the Cubs pulled within 5-2.

In what was now a battle of the bullpens, Nate Pearson was the first option for Counsell, as he is expected to play a massive role this season. What was a primarily solid outing, Pearson did give up a controversial Shohei Otani solo blast to put the Dodgers in front 6-2 as that would be the final run of the day for Los Angeles.

The sudden back-and-forth affair continued into the bottom of the sixth as Matt Shaw collected his first career MLB hit off Jack Dreyer with an infield single. That single paid off in a big way as Swanson laced an RBI double down the left-field line to bring home another run as the Cubs were within 6-3. That would be it for either offense as the Dodgers bullpen shut down the Cubs the rest of the way to secure the 6-3 victory.

The biggest takeaway from this game is that the Cubs had more hits than the Dodgers, which has to concern some fans. Berti had the best game of anyone with three hits, as he was the only player to record more than one hit. Had the Cubs been able to capitalize on some of their early scoring chances, the result could've been different, but that has been a theme for this team for several years, and it doesn't appear to be getting better.

Chicago will now fly back to Mesa to resume Spring as their final five games will be played at Sloan Park before the regular season picks up again.