A pinch-me moment
Montero’s slam in 8th breaks tie; Chicago up 1-0
CHICAGO — Miguel Montero broke an eighthinning tie with the third pinch-hit grand slam in postseason history, and the Cubs beat the Dodgers, 8-4, in their National League Championship Series opener Saturday night.
Pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan was walked intentionally with two outs in the eighth, loading the bases and bringing up closer Aroldis Chapman’s spot in the batting order.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon sent up Montero, who drove an 0-2 slider from Joe Blanton into the rightfield bleachers for his first hit of the playoffs. The crowd of 42,376 at Wrigley Field roared as Montero rounded the bases and kept cheering until the veteran catcher popped out of the dugout for a curtain call.
Dexter Fowler homered on the next pitch as the Cubs rebounded quickly from a shaky performance by their bullpen. Hector Rondon allowed Andrew Toles’ RBI double in the ninth before Chase Utley lined into a game-ending double play.
Game 2 is tonight, with the Dodgers again in need of a clutch performance from ace Clayton Kershaw. Major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks pitches for the Cubs, who are three wins from their first pennant in 71 years.
Jon Lester pitched six solid innings, Javier Baez stole home with a daring dash to the plate and Fowler busted his belt on a flashy catch in center field to help Chicago take a 3-1 Cubs 8-4 Dodgers (Kershaw) at Cubs (Hendricks), 8 p.m. Sunday Game 3: Cubs (Arrieta) at Dodgers (Hill), 8 p.m. Tue. Game 4: Cubs (Lackey) at Dodgers (Urias), 8 p.m. Wed. Game 5: Cubs (Lester) at Dodgers (Maeda), 8 p.m. Thursday (if nec.) Game 6: Dodgers (Kershaw) at Cubs (Hendricks), TBD Saturday (if nec.) GAME 7: Dodgers (Hill) at Cubs (Arrieta), TBD Oct. 23 (if nec.) lead after seven innings. But the Dodgers rallied in the eighth, when Maddon brought in Chapman with the bases loaded and no outs.
Chapman struck out Corey Seager and Yasiel Puig before Adrian Gonzalez lined a 102 mph fastball back up the middle for a tying, two-run single. Gonzalez clapped his hands at first after delivering Los Kendrick lf e-Utley ph-2b Turner 3b Seager ss Puig rf Gonzalez 1b Ruiz c c-Grandal ph-c Hernandez 2b-rf Pederson cf Maeda p a-Ethier ph d-Toles ph-lf TOTALS CHICAGO Fowler cf Bryant 3b Rizzo 1b Zobrist lf Russell ss Heyward rf J.Baez 2b Ross c f-Coghlan ph Contreras c b-Soler ph g-Montero ph TOTALS Los Angeles Chicago 4 8 9 9 000 010 021—4 120 000 05x—8 4 7 .000 .000 .250 .250 .000 .500 .000 .000 .000 .250 1.000 1.000 1.000 .400 .500 .000 .333 .000 .333 .500 .000 — — .000 1.000 90 90 a-HR in 5th. b-GO in 6th. c-K in 7th. d-1Bin 8th. e-BB in 8th. f-in 8th. g-HR in 8th. LOB: Los Angeles 6, Chicago 7. 2B: Toles (1), Bryant 2 (2), Zobrist (1), J.Baez 2 (2). 3B: Heyward (1). HR: Ethier (1), off Lester; Montero (1), off Blanton; Fowler (1), off Blanton. RBIs: Gonzalez 2 (2), Ethier (1), Toles (1), Fowler (1), Bryant (1), J.Baez (1), Montero 4 (4). SB: Gonzalez (1), J.Baez (1). LOS ANGELES Maeda P.Baez Stripling Blanton L, 1-1 Dayton CHICAGO Lester Wood H ,2 Edwards H ,2 Mntgmry H ,2 Strop Chapman W,1-0 Rondon 34 33 4 2 1 6 0 1 1 4 1 0 4 0 4 0 0 1 1 1 2 3 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 2 0 6.75 0.00 0.00 67.50
0.00 1.50 0.00 0.00 27.00 0.00 0.00 9.00 Angeles’ first hit in 12 at-bats with the bases loaded in the playoffs.
Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda lasted just four innings in his fourth straight shaky outing dating to the regular season.