Yasmani Grandal and Justin Turner hit home runs, and Rich Hill threw six shutout innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 6-0 in Game 3 of the NLCS on Tuesday night.
Despite a changed-up lineup for Game 3, the Cubs' offense got off to a sluggish start against Rich Hill. Dexter Fowler lofted a weak flyout to center field, and then Kris Bryant struck out on a fastball down the middle. Ben Zobrist did make good contact, but he too flew out to center field and ended the inning.
Corey Seager got a one-out single off of Jake Arrieta in the bottom of the frame, but the Cubs' starter was able to work around it, inducing a pop-out from Justin Turner and a flyout by Adrian Gonzalez to keep the Dodgers off the board.
The Cubs got a huge scoring chance in the second inning when Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler each drew walks. Both players moved up on a passed ball by Yasmani Grandal, but an Addison Russell strikeout and a groundout by Miguel Montero ended the threat and kept the game scoreless.
That failure to score ended up coming back to haunt the Cubs in the bottom of the frame as the Dodgers took the lead. Andrew Toles singled and then reached second on a fielder's choice, and with two outs he scored on a Seager base hit to put hte Dodgers ahead 1-0.
The Dodgers added to that lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Yasmani Grandal golfed a 3-2 pitch into the center field bleachers to put Los Angeles ahead by a 3-0 margin.
Arrieta was chased from the game in the sixth inning after Justin Turner stroked a home run into the bleachers to put the Dodgers up 4-0.
Chicago Baseball
That lead stayed in place until the eighth inning when the Dodgers' offense struck again. This time it was Joc Pederson doing the honors, as he hit an opposite-field double into the left field corner to score Yasiel Puig and make it a 5-0 game.
The lead was extended to six runs a batter later, as Grandal hit a ground ball to Baez, and when the infielder juggled the ball, Pederson scored from third to ensure that the rout would continue.
The Cubs will look to even up the series on Wednesday night when the two teams square off in Game 4 of the series. John Lackey will pitch for the Cubs, and first pitch is scheduled for 7:08 p.m. on FS1.
