Gavin Lux drove in the winning run with two outs in the seventh inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers came back to defeat the Chicago Cubs 10-8 on Wednesday night, preventing a series sweep.
Shohei Ohtani hit his 47th home run and stole his 48th base, while three other Dodgers homered in the first inning. The Dodgers, who lead the NL West, saw their magic number to secure the division drop to 11 after San Diego lost to Seattle.
The Dodgers walked 10 batters, with four of those walks coming from starter Bobby Miller.
“It was frustrating again, but it’s baseball. Not everything is going to be clicking at the same time,” said third baseman Max Muncy. “We had guys battling up there and it was good to see everyone not giving up.”
Tommy Edman hit his fourth home run in 24 hours, including a two-run shot off Trey Wingenter in the eighth inning that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 10-7. Edman also homered from both sides of the plate in the same game, the first time he has done that.
“Tommy is otherworldly these days,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The Cubs, trailing by three runs, put up a fight in the ninth inning. Michael Kopech walked three batters in a row, loading the bases with Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki, and former Dodger Cody Bellinger.
Kopech was called for a pitch-clock violation, which gave an automatic ball to Isaac Paredes. Paredes’ sacrifice fly made it 10-8. Suzuki was caught trying to steal third, and former Dodger Michael Busch struck out to end the game. Kopech earned his 13th save.
Alex Vesia (3-4) earned the win with one inning of relief.
The Cubs had beaten the Dodgers 16-7 in the first two games of the series and won the season series 4-2. The Dodgers have blown a lead in the last two games, having been ahead 3-1 on Tuesday before losing 6-3. On Wednesday, despite their strong first inning, the Dodgers led 7-3 but saw the Cubs tie it up in the fifth.
