Three- run homers help lift the Cubs
Right- hander gives up one of the Cubs’ two three- run home runs in the inning.
They connect for two in the sixth inning, one against Buehler.
CHICAGO 7 DODGERS 6
CHICAGO — Barreling baseballs against Walker Buehler wasn’t a problem for the Chicago Cubs in their 7- 6 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday night. Buehler’s velocity was eye- popping — his fastball touched 99 mph — but the Cubs were hitting the ball hard consistently and he didn’t have a strikeout through five innings. Yet, Buehler danced around the noise as the Dodgers built a three- run lead in his f irst start at Wrigley Field.
He f inally produced his f irst strikeout to start the sixth inning. From there, the inning became a debacle for the visitors.
After Daniel Descalso singled and Kris Bryant f lied out, Buehler walked Anthony Rizzo after going up 1- 2 to put two on with two out for Javier Baez. Again, Buehler jumped out ahead, this time 0- 2 on a pair of fastballs. The next pitch to the notorious free swinger was a slider. Catcher Austin Barnes stationed himself over the outside corner. He held his glove lower than usual. The objective was to get Baez to swing at a pitch out of the strike zone. The slider, however, f loated up and in. Baez lifted the misf ire over the brick wall for a three- run home run to tie the score.
“I’m pretty pleased with the way the ball is coming out of my hand,” Buehler said. “Just can’t make a bad pitch to a good hitter like that.”
The blast ended Buehler’s night after 52⁄ innings. It didn’t end the Cubs’ two- out surge. Left- hander Scott Alexander replaced Buehler and gave up a double to pitch- hitter David Bote. With f irst base open, the Dodgers elected to intentionally walk Willson Contreras, a right- handed batter, to have Alexander faced Jason Heyward, a lefthanded batter. The strategy f loundered when Alexander, a sinker ball specialist who must live low in the strike zone to succeed, left a sinker high. Heyward launched the mistake over the brick wall in straightaway center f ield for another three- run homer to give the Cubs the lead.
The barrage rendered the Dodgers’ meticulous work against the Cubs’ Cole Hamels irrelevant. Hamels allowed three runs and walked six in 51⁄ innings. The veteran had issued three walks in 26 innings across his f irst four starts this season.
The labor was rewarded in the fourth inning when Chris Taylor’s two- out inf ield single on a routine groundball to first baseman Rizzo, which he cinched with a headfirst slide into f irst base, broke a scoreless tie. It was the Dodgers’ f irst hit. Two innings later, Cody Bellinger lofted Hamels’ 112th pitch into the basket just over the left- f ield wall for a two- run home run. The homer was Bellinger’s 12th this season, pulling him within one of Christian Yelich for tops in the majors.
“I think staying with our plan and doing what we’ve been doing offensively, attacking pitchers we think we can hit,” Bellinger said of the Dodgers’ ability to work walks against Hamels. “I think one through nine we got a bunch of guys who are aggressive but will take their walks so it’s hard to pitch to.”
The hill grew slightly steeper for Los Angeles in the seventh inning when Joe Kelly plunked Kris Bryant on the f irst pitch with two outs before Rizzo slashed a 97- mph fastball for a runscoring double.
The run proved to be the difference once Alex Verdugo, who entered the game as a pinch- hitter in the sixth inning, walloped the game’s third three- run home run, off Steve Cishek in the eighth.
Kelly’s appearance Wednesday was his 10th as a Dodger. The right- hander, who signed a three- year, $ 25million contract during the offseason, has mostly stumbled.
Kelley emerged from Wednesday’s appearance having given up 12 earned runs in 11 innings this season. Only Buehler and Kenta Maeda, two starting pitchers, have given up more runs for the Dodgers this season.