LOS ANGELES -- You could almost hear the sighs of relief all the way from the Lake Michigan shore. No, the Chicago Cubs aren’t World Series-bound, not yet, but they will be returning to Wrigley Field. And it all began with a bunt.
That bunt, from Ben Zobrist, kicked off a four-run rally and seemed to wake the deeply slumbering Cubs’ bats. After that, Addison Russell hit a two-run shot, and one inning later, Anthony Rizzo hit a solo blast as the Cubs beat the Dodgers 10-2 to even the NLCS at two games apiece.
After reaching on a bunt and moving to second on a Javier Baez single, Zobrist scored on Willson Contreras' single. With that base knock, life suddenly sprang into a club that had not scored in 21 innings. Jason Heyward drove in a run with a grounder, and that was followed by Russell’s shot.
There could not have been a better script written for the return of the Cubs’ offense. After being shut out by the Dodgers the previous two games, the Cubs’ average in the postseason had fallen to .185. The focus of those struggles had become Rizzo and Russell, a pair of All-Stars who were a combined 3-for-50 in the postseason and 1-for-20 in the NLCS entering Game 4.
Both players foreshadowed their breakouts. Russell struck a Julio Urias pitch well with two on in the second, but it died at the warning track. Meanwhile, a couple pitches before his homer, Rizzo just missed a home run to right when it faded just inside the foul pole. After homering, he hit a two-run single in the sixth as the Cubs pulled away.
On the mound, veteran John Lackey was solid for four innings in his 22nd career playoff appearance, most among active pitchers. He got an early break when Adrian Gonzalez was thrown out at home by Heyward. On replay, it looked like Gonzalez might have slipped his hand under Contreras’ tag, but the call stood.
Lackey worked around trouble in three of his four innings, including striking out Yasmani Grandal with two on to end the fourth and pumping his fist in celebration. But when he walked the first two Dodgers to begin the fifth, Joe Maddon decided to turn to his bullpen early.
Cubs lefty Mike Montgomery had a harrowing moment when he stabbed at a potential Justin Turner double-play grounder with the bases loaded. The ball deflected into left field and scored two runs. But Montgomery held the Dodgers there, and the Cubs put the game away with a five-run sixth.
Urias, who at 20 years, 68 days became the youngest starting pitcher in a postseason game, also had a short outing. He held the Cubs hitless through three innings, despite command that came and went. But he seemed to unravel after Zobrist’s bunt. Even the last batter he faced, the light-hitting Lackey, managed a 102 mph exit velocity on a groundout. Urias was pulled after that.
Suddenly, the Cubs have recaptured the momentum in the series -- not to mention home-field advantage. No matter what happens in Game 5, Game 6 will be at Wrigley Field on Saturday, and one of these teams will be playing for a chance to join the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.