Major League Baseball

Dodgers 4 Cubs 8: Brink of Elimination pt 2

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Dodgers dropped game five and now find themselves on the brink of elimination.

The last two games have been so painful. Usually, I’d say I prefer blowouts to late losses because they hurt less. These last two games have just been awful, and now the Dodgers are a loss away from being eliminated.

Dodgers Starter

Kenta Maeda was definitely fighting it early on, as the Cubs struck in the first. Dexter Fowler hit the third pitch of the game into center field for a single and scored on an Anthony Rizzo double to right. Maeda walked Ben Zobrist, but got a pair of strikeouts to end a rough inning.

Maeda bounced back in the second and third. He did allow a one-out walk to David Ross in the second, but bounced back from that for three scoreless innings.

Maeda started the fourth, but struggled again. He got to a two-strike count on Javier Baez, but hung a fat curveball and Baez ripped it to left for a double. He got to a 1-2 count on Jason Heyward, but hit him with a slider to put two on with no outs. Maeda remained in the game and got Addison Russell and David Ross, but was pulled for a reliever instead of facing the opposing pitcher.

Spoiler alert, the bullpen didn’t let the inherited runs score. That closed the book on Maeda, who only lasted 3.2 innings. His command was awful pretty much all game, and with Carlos Ruiz (not Yasmani Grandal) behind the plate, he didn’t get many pitches on the edges. However, he gave the Dodgers 11 outs and allowed one run. It would have looked a lot better if he finished off that fourth inning, but he faced this dangerous Cub lineup twice and only allowed one run. With this bullpen, that’s all the Dodgers can really ask for (I wrote this part in like the fifth inning, stupid Alex).

Dodgers Offense

Jon Lester also struggled with his command as he walked Enrique Hernandez on four pitches to start the game. Hernandez got a huge lead before every pitch while he was at first, but never attempted a steal. He probably could have backpedaled to second with how big a jump he got, but he stayed put.

This hurt the Dodgers when Corey Seager singled to center. Hernandez only got to second on that single, when he should have been on third (or scored from second). This hurt again when Ruiz hit a deep fly ball to left for the second out. Hernandez tagged from second and moved to third, but he should have scored from third.

Lester also cruised through the second and third, only allowing an infield single to Justin Turner. He also struggled in the fourth, allowing a one-out double to Howie Kendrick.

Kendrick stole third after getting a huge lead off Lester. Ross somehow made the play close enough to be ruled out on the field, but the play was overturned on review.

The Cubs played the infield in with Adrian Gonzalez at bat. He hit a weak grounder between first and second, and Anthony Rizzo couldn’t field it cleanly enough to get Kendrick at the plate.

After the game broke open, the Dodgers managed to add a second run. Andrew Toles led off the eighth with a double and Turner was hit by a pitch. Seager grounded into a double play to stop the rally a bit, but

The added on again in the ninth against Aroldis Chapman. Gonzalez led off with a walk and Yasiel Puig singled. After a fielders’ choice, Josh Reddick ripped a single to score a run. A sac fly made it 8-4, but Chapman closed it out.

Dodgers Bullpen

Josh Fields took over for Maeda with two on and one out. He gave up pretty decent contact to Lester, but got him to line out to left to end the threat.

Fields stayed in and got the first out of the fifth, but hung a curveball to Kris Bryant. It somehow wasn’t hit to Mars, but it was rocketed to center. Joc Pederson took an interesting route to the ball and turned around like four times, giving Bryant a double. That ended Fields’ outing and put Grant Dayton in a big spot.

Dayton fell behind Rizzo, but got him to chase a low strike for the second out of the inning. Zobrist put a charge into one, but Puig ran it down to end the threat.

Joe Blanton got the sixth and gave up a first-pitch single to Baez. Baez stole second and Blanton got a strikeout, but Russell hit his second homer in as many games to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. It was another awful hanging slider by Blanton, who has probably thrown more garbage sliders in the five games of this series than he did in his 75 regular season appearances. It’s really a shame that a guy that was so key to the Dodgers’ success throughout the season gave up the losing runs in two of their key playoff losses.

Blanton got a strikeout to start the seventh before being pulled for Luis Avilan. Avilan worked himself into some trouble, but got a foul out to keep the deficit at two.

Pedro Baez got in trouble in the eighth after a weird inning. He allowed a broken bat grounder to first, and he and Gonzalez had issues with it. Another bloop single put two on, and and a bunt put both runners in scoring position. Fowler hit a grounder that Gonzalez fielded and acted like he was coming home with it, but by the time he decided to go to first Fowler beat him to the bag and a run scored. Another run scored on a broken bat infield single by Bryant,

The first well-hit ball of the inning almost ended the inning with a double play, but replay review overturned the call. Baez walked a batter to load the bases, and Ross Stripling came in and allowed a double off the wall to break it open.

Other Stuff

So, the Dodgers have to win two games to keep their season going. They will have Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill on the mound in games six and seven, so that should fill fans with at least a bit of confidence. Both games will be in Chicago, which isn’t ideal.

The Dodgers were in an abbreviated version of this situation in the last round. They were a loss away from elimination with Kershaw and Hill scheduled to throw the final two games. This time, neither will be on short rest.

Saturday will be the big day, as Kershaw takes on Kyle Hendricks. First pitch is scheduled for 5:08 PST.

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