BATS MORE LIKE IT
NLCS GAME 4 CUBS 10, DODGERS 2
LOS ANGELES — Big- boy games. That’s what John Lackey, swaggering like a latter- day John Wayne, calls them. That’s what Wednesday’s game was, and he wanted to be the big boy who would reduce the Dodgers to timid children.
He didn’t get the full chance to do it, but no worries, cowboy. This was a game for a team of big boys. It was a big- boy roundup, a big- boy convention, a big- boy night out.
And, boy, did the Cubs need this in a big way.
They found their missing offensive attack in a 10- 2 victory to tie the National League Championship Series at two games apiece. They found Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo, who both homered in Game 4 after going a combined three- for- 53 in the postseason. And Cubs fans found themselves breathing again.
After 22 consecutive innings without a run, the Cubs finally scored against the Dodgers in the fourth. It started with the tiniest of sparks, a perfectly placed bunt by Ben Zobrist. After a single by Javy Baez, Willson Contreras singled to left, and a godawful throw by Andrew Toles allowed Zobrist to score. A 1- 0 lead. No, really.
“You knew it was going to happen, it was a matter of when,’’ center fielder Dexter Fowler said. “Zo started out with that bunt, and then it was off to the races.’’
It was indeed. Jason Heyward, who hasn’t hit all season, knocked in a run, and Russell, who hasn’t hit since August, followed with a two- run homer.
“I definitely wasn’t panicking,’’ Russell said of his struggles at the plate. “I was more frustrated that anything else. … It was definitely a sigh of relief to have a good night.’’
And just like that, Dodgers starter Julio Urias was gone, leaving the stage for a cowpoke to roam by his lonesome. And Lackey did, spitting horseshoe nails along the way. He already had yelled at Baez for a throwing error in the first that ruined a perfectly good double- play ball.
This was why Lackey signed with the Cubs in the offseason, for games like Wednesday’s. That’s where his “big- boy game’’ description came from. In his world, regular- season games are there only as a means of transportation to the playoffs.
With men on first and second in the fourth, he struck out Yasmani Grandal on a breaking ball, then screamed in acknowledgment of the accomplishment.
Lackey, 37, was going against the 20- year- old Urias, meaning the age difference between the two was almost old enough to vote.
Lackey had lots of help Wednesday. Some of it had come in the second inning, when Heyward threw out Adrian Gonzalez, who was trying to score on Toles’ single. Replay seemed to show Gonzalez getting a hand on the plate before Contreras’ tag, but the Dodgers lost the challenge.
In the third, Chase Utley made as much contact as a person can without the ball going out of the park. Heyward caught it with his back to the wall.
And Rizzo’s fifth- inning homer to right center gave the Cubs a 5- 0 lead. The best kind of help for a pitcher. He would finish with three hits on the night. He had been getting much encouragement from his teammates during his troubles.
“All the veterans are telling you, ‘ It’s just about one at- bat,’ ” Rizzo said.
Asked about the team’s hitting woes before Game 4, manager Joe Maddon said, “Can’t take a trip to Negative Town.’’ The Cubs didn’t. They stayed positive, even though everything about their hitting was a downer. They came into the game hitting .185 in the playoffs.
Maddon pulled Lackey with no outs in the fifth and Dodgers on first and second. When Maddon arrived at the mound to pull him, a national- TV audience could see the pitcher saying, “Are you [ bleeping] kidding me?” Maddon wasn’t. It’s OK. The Cubs like that ornery, competitive side of him.
Lackey had calmed down a tad by the time the media got to the clubhouse after the game. In the future, you might not want to ask him about a game changing the momentum of a series.
“We were down 2- 1 a couple of hours ago, and now all of a sudden we’re great again because it’s 2- 2,’’ he said. “You guys overdramatize things.
Let’s all agree that it was a complete team effort from a team of big boys.
“We’re going back to Chicago, regardless,’’ catcher Miguel Montero said. “So that’s the good news. It’s going to be even [ nicer] going to Chicago with the lead, 3- 2. That’s not a guarantee, but I believe in my team.’’