Cubs 7, Dodgers 3

The Cubs beat the team from L.A. for the second straight afternoon.

MESA, Arizona — So the Cubs beat the Dodgers twice in Spring Training games and outscored them 19-7. Everything’s all set then, right?

Well, of course it isn’t, not with these being practice games not played under regular-season conditions and half of it being played with miscellaneous minor leaguers.

Nevertheless, there were good signs for the Cubs in their 7-3 win over the Dodgers at sun-kissed Sloan Park Friday afternoon.

Jordan Wicks, who seems likely to be ticketed for the Triple-A Iowa rotation, threw two scoreless innings, though he did get himself in trouble with three straight hits in the second.

Seiya Suzuki then let a catchable ball drop in front of him, but threw Austin Barnes out at the plate [VIDEO].

Honest truth? For all the reputation as a good defensive right fielder Suzuki came to MLB from NPB with, he’s just... not that good. On occasion, sure, play him to give Ian Happ or Kyle Tucker a break. But basically, Suzuki’s now a DH.

Here’s how Wicks ended that inning [VIDEO].

The Cubs scored a run on an infield grounder by Jonathon Long in the second, and then after the Dodgers scored one off Caleb Kilian to tie the game in the third, the Cubs brought out the bats in the bottom of the inning.

Before I show you that, a word about Kilian. He still throws hard. He can still strike hitters out. And yet, as seen in this game, he appears eminently hittable. I just don’t know how he’s going to fit into this team’s future. He turns 28 in June... I don’t see how many more chances he’ll get.

Anyway.

Ian Happ led off the bottom of the third with a bloop double to left, and two outs later took third on a fly to right by Suzuki. He then scored on a wild pitch to give the Cubs the lead. Happ would have scored anyway in that at-bat, as Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled. And then PCA scored when Miguel Amaya smacked this two-run homer [VIDEO].

As you can see at the very end of that clip, PCA has changed his number from 52 to 4, taking over Alexander Canario’s number. Don’t necessarily read anything into that re: Canario, since it’s still possible he’ll clear waivers and stay in the organization. If so, Canario would simply be issued another number.

But if you’re looking for a PCA jersey, now might be the time to get a cheap deal on one of his No. 52 jerseys.

So the Cubs led 4-1 at this point. They made it 5-1 in the fourth. Vidan Bruján led off with a triple and scored on a sac fly by Dansby Swanson.

Swanson, incidentally, had previously flashed some glove with this slick play in the first, robbing Mookie Betts of a hit [VIDEO].

Nice pick by Long there, too — you can be sure the brass was taking notes.

The only other MLB spring camp pitchers who threw after that were Phil Bickford, who threw a nice scoreless inning with two strikeouts, and Brandon Hughes, who also struck out a pair and had to face two extra hitters after an easy grounder to third base that would have been the third out was thrown away by Chase Strumpf.

Both Bickford and Hughes could wind up as useful spare parts at Triple-A Iowa.

Other than that, this game just dragged. There were 24 hits and eight walks and at least in the early innings, Dodger hitters kept fouling off pitch after pitch. Two hours and 48 minutes isn’t terrible, but with the pitch timer we have become used to quicker games than this. Perhaps tomorrow.

Attendance watch: The game was a sellout of 15,706 at Sloan Park on a beautiful day:

Sorry, Chicago. It’ll warm up... eventually.

Saturday afternoon, the Cubs host their South Side rivals, the White Sox, at Sloan Park. It will be the first spring game for the Sox. Justin Steele will take the mound for the Cubs and Jared Shuster gets the start for the South Siders. Game time is again 2:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network, with radio coverage on the Sox flagship ESPN 1000.