The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 Monday night as Michael Busch and Cody Bellinger's revenge game against their former team led the way for the Cubs. Busch, who never really got a shot at consistent playing time with the Dodgers, was traded to the Cubs back in January for a pair of prospects.
The 26-year-old rookie had his best game of the season, going 4-for-5, with a home run, double, three RBI and three runs scored at Dodger Stadium, giving LA fans a glimpse of what he's capable of offensively. While the second half of the season has been a bit of a grind for Busch, the Cubs' first baseman still has a solid .252/.337/.434 slash line in 445 trips to the plate in his first full year in the majors.
Busch has now recorded at least one hit in every game against the Dodgers this season, which includes his first home run of the season back in April at Wrigley Field. In four games against the team that picked him in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft, Busch is 7-for-16 with 2 home runs, 7 RBI and five runs scored.
Meanwhile, Bellinger had a big night against the Dodgers as well, starting the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning. He drove in another run in the ninth inning to give the Cubs more breathing room and reached base a third time via walk.
Bellinger also made a great play to rob Andy Pages of a hit to begin the bottom of the ninth inning.
A nice win for the Cubs as the offense woke up again and they needed runs early and often because the Cubs had to turn to the bullpen in the fifth inning. Kyle Hendricks was only able to go 4.1 innings, but the bullpen mostly shut down the Dodgers the rest of the way.
Keegan Thompson was great coming in relief of Hendricks. The righty was tasked with protecting a 4-1 lead as the Dodgers had the bases loaded with only one out in the fifth. Thompson got out of the jam only giving up a sac-fly and then tossed a scoreless sixth inning.
The next jam was in the seventh, when Mookie Betts smashed a two-run homer off Drew Smyly that cut the Cubs lead to 7-4. Shawn Armstrong came in with a runner at first and after giving up a two-out single that brought up the tying run to the plate, the right-hander was able to retire Gavin Lux by striking him out.
Tyson Miller and Ethan Roberts closed things out with two scoreless innings.
You would have thought that in a game where Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman combined to go 5-for-9 with 5 walks the Dodgers would have won in a blowout, but everyone else was kept in check by the Cubs pitching staff.
Unfortunately, the reality of how difficult it is for the Cubs to gain ground in the Wild Card race is rudely apparent. Despite the win in LA and an Atlanta Braves loss, the Cubs remain 5 games back of the third Wild Card spot after the New York Mets moved into sole possession of that third spot. In the NL Central, the Cubs are 8.5 games back of first place.
I mean, the Milwaukee Brewers do have a tough road trip out West this week and end their season with 13 of 16 games against playoff teams. No way they'd blow the division, right?
