Cubs walk off Dodgers in back and forth clash at Friendly Confines

CHICAGO -- What a head-spinner this series opener was at Wrigley Field as the Dodgers and Cubs were neck and neck throughout this contest, but with Dustin May's worst start of the season, shortcomings of the bullpen, and clutch hitting by Chicago, Los Angeles drops game one in extras, 11-10. As mentioned earlier, May had his worst start of the season as he finished his day on the mound and went five innings, allowing seven earned runs on ten hits while striking out five. 

The Dodgers would strike first in this slugfest that started with Shohei Ohtani reaching on a fielding error to begin the game and a Teoscar Hernandez single had runners on first and second and up came Tommy Edman, hitting from the right side. There is no telling whether or not the Cubs rubbed Edman the wrong way in the past, but he just seems to dominate Chicago and this game was no different as he would launch a three-run bomb to dead center and put Los Angeles in front early, 3-0. 

The Dodgers' early lead would be short-lived as the Cubs would answer back quickly with Ian Happ hitting a leadoff double and Kyle Tucker had a base knock plus stole second to begin Chicago's bottom half of the first. Seiya Suzuki would come up to the plate and drive in both runners with an RBI double and cut the Dodgers' lead to 3-2. Then, after a Michael Busch groundout, Dansby Swanson tied the game with a RBI triple in centerfield after Edman had trouble tracking it. 

Chicago wasn't done just yet, as Peter Crow-Armstrong hit a RBI double of his own to put the Cubs on top 4-3 for their first lead of the ball game and Amaya hit a bloop shot to right field to extend their lead and complete the five spot. 

Andy Pages continues to slash against left-handed pitching, as in the top half of the second, Pages demolished a four-seam fastball that almost left Wrigley Field as the Dodgers inched closer, 5-4. 

Both offenses were kept under wraps for a few innings until the bottom of the fifth, as May would give up a leadoff walk to Swanson, and he would later swipe second. Nico Hoerner singled in the next at-bat and tried his luck with swiping a bag, but was unsuccessful as Will Smith threw him out. Crow-Armstrong would wash the bad taste of Hoerner getting caught stealing by crushing a two-run home run and extending Chicago's lead to 7-4. 

Smith etched his name again in this game, this time on the offensive front, as he launched a solo shot to right field in the sixth, and the Dodgers were now down 7-5. The Cubs were threatening to respond again as Happ had a leadoff single, Tucker flied out, and Suzuki was up to the plate and singled in to right that rolled into the glove of Pages, and Happ decided to test the arm. Pages accepted the challenge and threw a perfect 97.7 mph strike to Smith on a bang-bang play to end the inning and keep the score the same. 

The Dodgers rode the momentum of the nice defensive play in the seventh as Pages would start off the inning with a single, Ohtani and Mookie Betts drew free passes, and with the bases loaded, Hernandez would reach on a bobbled fielder's choice and Los Angeles was now only down 7-6 with no outs. The Double machine Freddie Freeman would make his presence known as he would hit a clutch RBI double to put the Dodgers ahead 8-7. 

Edman would tack on one more with a sacrifice fly, and with his second extra-base hit of the game, Smith doubled in two more insurance runs to cap off the Dodgers' scoring for the night and all of a sudden, Los Angeles was in the drivers seat with a 10-7 lead heading into the eighth. 

Chicago had not breathed their last breath just yet, as in the bottom half of the eighth, Happ reached base again on another single that set up Tucker to crush a two-run home run that landed underneath the scoreboard to inch the Cubs by one. 

Tanner Scott came in to close out the game for the Dodgers in the ninth and made quick work of the first two hitters until Amaya read Scott's 97 mph fastball and hit a game-tying home run that landed in the ivy baskets and forced the game into extra innings.  

The Dodgers did not come up with anything for their top half of the tenth, and Los Angeles looked to newcomer Noah Davis to potentially extend the game into the eleventh, but those hopes were quickly crushed as Happ would hit a first-pitch walk-off single past the diving Freeman, and Chicago takes a doozy of a game by a final of 11-10.