Recap: Dodgers Squander Opportunities, Lose On Walk-Off In 10th
Both pitchers continued to cruise as neither offense could come up with a baserunner in the fifth. Jimmy rollins made good contact in the sixth, only to hit it right to Addison Russell, who threw over to first for the out.
A routine fly ball to right-center field resulted in a two-out triple for Puig as Matt Szczur lost it in the lights and didn’t alert Mike Baxter with enough time for him to react. Nothing would come of it however, as Pederson popped out to short.
Battling a high pitch count in the bottom of the sixth, Greinke walked Rizzo to open the inning. Bryant worked a full count and popped out. Montero also forced Greinke to a full count and went down swinging on a pitch in the dirt. Mattingly came out to speak with Greinke and walked off the mound with the right-hander remaining in the game.
The decision paid off as Greinke got Starlin Castro to ground out, keeping the game scoreless through six innings. Hammel bookended a comebacker with a pair of strikeouts for a scoreless seventh inning.
Juan Nicasio took over for the Dodgers in the bottom of the seventh and retired the side in order. With Greinke exiting at six innings pitched, he remained winless since May 5 and lowered his ERA to 1.70.
Andre Ethier drew a leadoff walk in the eighth and was moved into scoring position on Callaspo’s sacrifice bunt. Rollins grounded out to the right side of the infield, which allowed Ethier to advance another 90 feet. Justin Turner pinch-hit for Nicasio and drew a walk.
That spelled the end of the night for Hammel at 107 pitches as Hector Rondon entered. His first pitch to Puig was flied to left-center that drew a trio of cubs, and a fourth, Coghlan came running in to make the catch. Adam Liberatore struck out Russell swinging for the first out in the bottom of the eighth.
Chris Denorfia flied out to center and Rizzo popped out to Rollins, sending the game to the ninth still tied at 0-0. Pedro Strop allowed a two-out single to Gonzalez and followed that by walking Yasmani Grandal. Strop fell behind in the count 3-0 to Ethier, threw one strike, and got the Dodgers’ outfielder to groundout on the next pitch.
Ethier’s inability to come up with a hit dropped the Dodgers to 0-for-7 on the night with runners ins coring position. Yimi Garcia got Bryant to pop up on the first pitch in the bottom of the ninth and proceeded to retire the next two batters faced, sending the game to extra innings.
Facing Jason Motte in the 10th, Callaspo put a charge into one but it was tracked down by Szczur in deep center. Rollins struck out on a check swing and pinch-hitter Alex Guerrero popped out to second. Joel Peralta, reinstated from the disabled list on Monday, took the mound in the bottom of the 10th for his first appearance since April 23.
Baxter dumped Peralta’s first pitch into right field for a leadoff single. With Callaspo playing in on the grass, Szczur hit a one-hopper that was too hot to handle. Dexter Fowler worked a full count and drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.
That led to Kenley Jansen entering the game and he got the first out on a Russell grounder to Gonzalez, who bobbled the transfer before throwing home in time for the force out. Mattingly then called Ethier in from left field to deploy a five-man infield with one out and the bases still loaded.
As has been the case in the past, the extra infielder didn’t prove beneficial for the Dodgers as Denorfia’s sac-fly to center field easily scored Szczur and gave the Cubs a 1-0 walk-off win.
[divide]Jimmy Rollins On Difficulty Of 10-Game Road Trip
