Hill keeps Cubs scoreless

Chicago can’t solve former independent league pitcher.

LOS ANGELES — Rich Hill never strayed from his mindset of pitching in the moment, even when he was far from the major leagues playing independent ball with the Long Island Ducks.

Convinced there would be another opportunity to get back to the big leagues, he focused on executing pitches without worrying about his current circumstances.

Fourteen months later, Hill allowed two hits over six innings to beat Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Tuesday, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 NL Championship Series lead.

“It’s the biggest game of my career,” Hill said. “It’s just putting in the work, putting in the time, having a routine, persevere, all those things that you can say to sum up some kind of endurance or resiliency. For me, that’s all I’ve ever known is just work.”

Rookie Corey Seager had three hits, including a go-ahead single in the third, and Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer in the fourth.

After winning an MLB-best 103 games during the regular season and sparking belief they could win the World Series for the first time since 1908, the Cubs have been shut out in consecutive games for the first time since May 2014, managing just six hits — five singles. Their 18 straight scoreless innings mark the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

“More than anything, I think we need to get a couple runs and hits and runs early to try to get that kind of feeling back,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, “because, obviously, when you’re not scoring any runs, it makes it even more difficult in the dugout.”

Hill, who made two starts in the independent Atlantic League in August 2015 before signing a minor league deal with Boston, struck out six and walked two. Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton and Kenley Jansen finished. Playing their 200th postseason game, the Dodgers posted consecutive shutouts for the first time.

Hill, 36, was acquired from Oakland with Josh Reddick at the Aug. 1 trade deadline. The left-hander had a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand that landed him on the DL from mid-July to late August.

But the blister still lingered, and manager Dave Roberts pulled him after seven perfect innings at Miami on Sept. 10, saying the team had to keep its focus on bigger goals in October.