LOS ANGELES – Dodger fans were on their feet when David Peralta stepped up to the plate to pinch hit, facing Cubs reliever Michael Fulmer with runners on second and third.
Peralta hit a ground ball through the right side of the field, and both runs scored. The Cubs lost 2-1 in a walk-off. The Dodgers’ comeback tied the series.
“The decision’s to pitch around him,” manager David Ross said of the last at-bat of the game.
There were two outs and an open base at first. So, a walk would have given the Cubs a force at every bag. Catcher Austin Barnes, who is hitless so far this season, was due up after Peralta. Catcher Will Smith has been out of the lineup this series due to illness.
Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy took a mound visit when the Dodgers put Peralta in as the pinch hitter. Fulmer had faced Peralta once before and got him to roll over on a first-pitch cutter. He said the message was to start there again.
“Just didn’t get in far enough inside,” Fulmer said. “Last year may have been an out with the shift, but this year just got through the hole. Just need to make a better pitch next time.”
The night after a game that included seven home runs, Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon and Dodgers starter Michael Grove went toe-to-toe in a pitcher’s duel.
Taillon gave up a single and a walk in the first inning but then settled in. In the next four innings, he allowed a total of two base runners, tossing five scoreless innings.
Grove limited the Cubs to two hits through 5 ⅔ innings, and the only run he surrendered was a solo homer from Patrick Wisdom, his second in as many games.
The tide turns
Dodgers fans cheered Cody Bellinger as he stepped into the box for the first time Saturday, the goodwill from the former Dodger’s return to Los Angeles the day before still flowing.
That changed after he robbed former Cub Jason Heyward of a home run in the bottom of the second inning. Dodger fans booed. Bellinger smiled and shrugged, and the boos intensified.
“It was cool,” Bellinger said. “And I think it was all I love. I enjoyed the moment. There’s a lot of banter going on in the outfield between us these last few games, and I’m just having a blast being out there.”
From that point on, Bellinger was greeted with boos every at-bat and every catch, no matter how routine.
History on the base paths
Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner recorded his eighth stolen base of the season Saturday, pulling him into a tie with the Orioles’ Cedric Mullins for the most in MLB. Hoerner is the first Cub since 1907 with eight stolen bases through the first 13 games of the season. Jimmy Slagle was the last to achieve the feat.
