LOS ANGELES -- The Cubs know that the road to the World Series likely runs through Dodger Stadium. And on Friday night, the North Siders rolled into Los Angeles and put up the kind of fight against the two-time defending champions that would look right at home on the October stage.
One day after delivering a walk-off single, Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson drilled a go-ahead, two-run homer off Dodgers lefty Tanner Scott in the ninth inning. The blast sent Chicago on its way to a 6-4 victory that ran the team’s Major League-best winning streak to an even 10 games.
The 10-game run marks the longest winning streak for the Cubs since an 11-game streak from July 31-Aug. 12, 2016. It is the longest winning streak in April for Chicago since the 1970 campaign.
The Cubs’ offense -- a unit that pounded out 66 runs over the previous nine wins -- struggled to solve Dodgers righty Emmet Sheehan over his 6 1/3 innings. With a slider-led arsenal, Sheehan racked up 10 strikeouts and generated 21 swinging strikes, exiting with no runs scored while he was on the hill.
Following Sheehan’s exit, Chicago started piecing together a rally.
Moisés Ballesteros ended Sheehan’s evening with a one-out single and then Pete Crow-Armstrong later drew a two-out walk against Dodgers lefty Alex Vesia. That set things up for Swanson, who ripped a pitch just out of the reach of center fielder Andy Pages, resulting in a two-run triple.
Over the next few minutes, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner then showed why he has been one of baseball’s top all-around players out of the gates this season. In the top of the seventh, Hoerner roped a pitch from Vesia into left for an RBI single that scored Swanson, pulling the Cubs within one run.
In the bottom of the frame, Hoerner put his defensive skills on display. First, he teamed with right fielder Seiya Suzuki on a relay that cut down Pages at third on a would-be triple. Then, Hyeseong Kim sent a pitch from Cubs lefty Ryan Rolison sharply off the glove of first baseman Michael Busch. Hoerner was covering behind Busch and made a leaping, barehanded catch on the ball before firing it to Rolison at first for a jaw-dropping out.
The bottom of the seventh ended with a clutch challenge by Cubs catcher Carson Kelly, too. A 2-2 slider from Rolison that tailed low and away to Shohei Ohtani was deemed a ball. Kelly immediately tapped the top of his helmet to use the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System. It was overturned, resulting in a crucial inning-ending strikeout that stranded a runner.
Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman -- the recipient of raucous boos all night from the L.A. crowd -- opened the eighth with a towering homer to left off Blake Treinen, knotting the score, 4-4. That cancelled out the runs on the line of Chicago starter Jameson Taillon, who gave up a three-run homer in the third inning to Will Smith to help the Dodgers build their 4-0 lead.
In the ninth, Crow-Armstrong led off with a slashed single to left field off Scott. Next up was Swanson, who connected with a 1-0 fastball from the lefty and sent it out to left field with an exit velocity of 108.5 mph. It marked the sixth home run of the season for the veteran shortstop, who has five shots in his last 12 games.