Game Recap: PCA leads Cubs to series win against Dodgers |
Dustin Riese
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- Sunday, April 13 2025
LOS ANGELES - When you looked at the Chicago Cubs (11-7) April Schedule and their current road trip, most fans would be happy with a 3-3 trip. That especially rings true now that Justin Steele will be done for the season with Flexor Tendon Surgery nearing, as the Cubs will have to figure out what to do at the top of their rotation.
With Steele scheduled to face the Los Angeles Dodgers (11-6) at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, it was going to come down to Colin Rea and the rest of the bullpen as the Cubs had a chance at a rare series win in Los Angeles. One night after handing the Dodgers their first home loss of the season, it was the Pete Crow-Armstrong show as the center fielder connected for two of the Cubs three homers and added a triple to give the Cubs an impressive 4-2 victory. Expected to stay in the rotation for the foreseeable future now that Steele is out, Rea does need to get stretched back out, but did a phenomenal job in his first start of the season. Signed to be the utility man on the Cub staff, Rea did all the Cubs asked him to do as he gave Chicago 3 2/3 innings of one-run baseball, walking one and striking out five. Rea also allowed four hits in his outing, three coming in the second inning as the Dodgers got on the scoreboard first. After Michael Conforto and Will Smith connected on a pair of singles to put a pair of runners on base, it was the Kike Hernandez single that opened the scoring and gave the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. Apart from that inning, Rea was excellent, and he had to be as the Cubs faced off against another Cy Young-caliber arm in Tyler Glasnow. Coming off a horrendous start last time out, Glasnow got back to doing what he does best as he gave the Dodgers six strong innings of two-run seven, strikeout baseball. Both of the runs he allowed came on a pair of solo shots, including one from Crow-Armstrong in the top of the third as the Cubs brought things back to even 1-1. Carson Kelly followed that homer up with another walk before Tommy Edman robbed Ian Happ of a potential base hit and killed what could have been a bigger inning. Over the next few innings, neither team could do anything offensively, although the Dodgers put a pair of runners on in the fifth off Brad Keller, only to come away empty. With the score still tied in the sixth, the Cubs once again used the long ball, as former Los Angeles Dodger farmhand Michael Busch connected for his second homer in as many nights to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead. In what was now a game of the bullpens, Craig Counsell had to be very strategic with how he handled the pen, knowing Rea would start. He elected to go with Caleb Thielbar to begin the sixth and after allowing a lead off single to Conforto ahead of the Smith double it was the Dodgers threatening as they had a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Los Angeles managed to pull even off a Max Muncy sacrifice fly, but after Ethan Roberts took over for Thielbar, the Cubs escaped any further damage as things remained deadlocked 2-2. That was the key moment of this game as Blake Treinen took over for Glasnow in the seventh and immediately allowed the second homer of the night to Crow-Armstrong, putting the Cubs back on top for good 3-2. Chicago continued to go to work against the Dodgers in the eighth, using a lead-off-ground rule double from Kyle Tucker to set them up against Alex Vesia. On the verge of letting that scoring chance get away, Nico Hoerner came through with a massive two-out single to extend the Cubs lead to 4-2 as the Cubs brought home a run in their third straight inning. Hoerner would get picked off later in the inning, but with a two-run lead, it was up to both Porter Hodge and Ryan Pressly to lock things down. Not only did they do that, but both were as good as they have been all season, with Hodge picking up a pair of strikeouts in the eighth while Pressly needed less than 10 pitches to retire the Dodgers in order as the Cubs to secure another series win and hand the Dodgers their first series loss of the season at home. PCA had a night to remember in front of his home state, leading the Cubs with three hits (all extra-base hits) and picking up a pair of homers in the win. Busch was also responsible for two hits as the Cubs had eight hits in the win. Chicago will continue their second West-Coast swing of the month on Monday when they will face off with the San Diego Padres for the second time in a week.
“I don’t know where that came from.”
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 14, 2025
Colin Rea on hitting 96mph tonight 😂 pic.twitter.com/ihMCUJRGqS
Carson Kelly provides an update on his wrist: “Just really sore. That’s all.” pic.twitter.com/koIgJg2F6b
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 14, 2025
"He pitched great and he gave us exactly what we needed ... just a very very well pitched game for us all-around.”
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 14, 2025
Craig Counsell commends Colin Rea and the Cubs’ pitching staff 👏 pic.twitter.com/97Q1bmZzHM
