Chicago Cubs

Late Cubs' Rally Falls Short in Loss to Dodgers

The Chicago Cubs had a chance to sweep the defending National League champions, but their offense sputtered to a halt as they fell 2-1 in the series finale.

Jon Lester gave up four hits and one earned run in his return to the rotation, and the Cubs’ bullpen combined to allow one run and zero hits in five innings of work, but it wasn’t enough as the team dropped a closely-fought contest.

Pedro Baez picked up the win for the Dodgers, and Kenley Jansen registered his eighth save of the season despite giving up a solo home run to Albert Almora Jr. in the ninth inning.

Both Ross Stripling and Lester were able to keep their opponents off the scoreboard through the first four innings, but a defensive miscue by Javier Báez in the fifth finally allowed the Dodgers to score. After Alex Verdugo hit a triple to lead off the inning, Baez committed an error on a ground ball from Chris Taylor, allowing Verdugo to score and give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers managed to manufacture a run in the eighth, as Corey Seager scored on a sacrifice fly from Cody Bellinger to make it a 2-0 game. Kyle Ryan did manage to get the Cubs out of that inning and pitched a scoreless ninth, but despite a home run from Almora in the ninth, the Cubs couldn’t quite mount a comeback as they lost 2-1.

The Cubs will head to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks in a three-game series beginning on Friday night in the desert.  

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