Chicago moves within one victory of pennant
LOS ANGELES — Jon Lester pitched seven sharp innings, Addison Russell hit a tiebreaking homer, and the Chicago Cubs moved one win of their first World Series trip in 71 years by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 on Thursday night.
The Cubs grabbed a 3-2 lead in the National League Championship Series and will have two chances to wrap up that elusive pennant back home at Wrigley Field.
The first comes Saturday night in Game 6, when Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw faces major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks.
Emerging star Javier Baez was in the middle of everything for the Cubs, a common theme this October. The second baseman made a sensational defensive play when the game was close in the seventh, and his three-run double capped a five-run eighth that made it 8-1.
After breaking out of his postseason slump Wednesday, Russell hit a two-run homer for the second straight game. This one was a sixth-inning drive off losing pitcher Joe Blanton that gave Chicago a 3-1 lead.
By winning consecutive games in Los Angeles, the Cubs took control of the best-of-seven series after getting shut out in Games 2 and 3.
The franchise is chasing its first World Series championship since 1908.
Baez heats up
Baez had three of Chicago’s 13 hits, matching the team’s total in Game 4, when the Cubs snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak and won 10-2.
Lester allowed one run and five hits, improving to 2-0 in three playoff starts this year. He has given up two runs in 21 innings.
The lefthander struck out six and walked one.
Anthony Rizzo’s runscoring double gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the first.
Los Angeles tied it in the fourth on Adrian Gonzalez’s RBI groundout.
After scoring their first run, the Cubs stranded six runners through the first five innings before finding success against the Dodgers’ third reliever.
Russell homered on an 0-1 pitch from Blanton, who gave up a single to Baez leading off the sixth. Baez stole second and scored on Russell’s shot to center field that put the Cubs ahead on another unusually hot night at Dodger Stadium.
Chicago jumped on struggling Dodgers rookie Kenta Maeda from the start. Dexter Fowler singled leading off the game and scored on Rizzo’s double to right two batters later.
Maeda gave up one run and three hits in 32⁄3 innings, struck out six and walked two. The righthander has allowed eight earned runs in 102⁄3 innings with a 6.75 ERA over three appearances.
Dodgers falter
The Dodgers’ defense fell apart in the eighth, when the Cubs extended their lead to 8-1.
Gonzalez tried flipping Russell’s slow roller to reliever Pedro Baez, who came over to cover first and bobbled the ball for an error.
Pinch hitter Willson Contreras followed with a single, and the runners moved up on pinch hitter Albert Almora Jr.’s sacrifice bunt. Fowler reached on an infield single to first, with Gonzalez losing a foot race when Fowler slid into the bag, scoring Russell.
Kris Bryant reached on an infield single to third, with the Dodgers unsuccessfully challenging the call that he was safe.
The Dodgers thought they’d finally escaped the inning on a double play when Rizzo lined to Kike Hernandez, who forced Fowler at second.
Challenge upheld
But the Cubs challenged the call and it was reversed, allowing Chicago to prolong the inning. Baez got yanked after walking Ben Zobrist to load the bases. Ross Stripling came on to face Baez, who doubled to deep right, driving in three runs.
Kershaw offered to pitch on short rest again in Game 5, but was turned down in favor of starting Game 6 on Saturday.
“My stance is always the same,” Kershaw said Thursday. “I always tell them I’ll do whatever they want. I told them I’d pitch today if they wanted me to and pitch Game 6 if they wanted me to.”