CHICAGO — Something was lost in translation.
Travelmates in Tokyo just over a month ago, the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs have already played their season series, seven games in the first 25 games of the season. It started with a two-game Dodgers sweep at the Tokyo Dome but the Cubs found a favorable exchange rate, winning four of the five meetings on U.S. soil, including a two-game sweep at Wrigley Field this week.
Noah Davis and Jack Dreyer were the weak links in the Dodgers’ bullpen game Wednesday night, combining to allow seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings as the Cubs beat the Dodgers, 7-6, to complete the mini-sweep.
A commitment to keeping Japanese right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki on a one-start-a-week schedule and Blake Snell’s ongoing shoulder issue put the Dodgers in a familiar predicament Wednesday – a bullpen game.
It started well enough with Ben Casparius retiring eight of the nine batters he faced and Anthony Banda keeping the Cubs scoreless into the fourth inning.
By then, Teoscar Hernandez had given the Dodgers a lead with a two-out, two-run single in the third inning off of Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd.
Davis took over for the Dodgers in the fourth inning, well-rested after throwing just one pitch to lose Tuesday’s game in the 10th inning. He stuck around longer in his second appearance for the Dodgers – and did more damage.
Davis gave up a three-run home run to Pete Crow-Armstrong – which does not make him unique among Dodgers pitchers. The former Harvard-Westlake standout has five home runs this season. Four of them have come against the Dodgers.
But Boyd opened the door for the Dodgers in the top of the fifth inning when his errant throw on an easy double play led to three unearned runs – one on a double by Freddie Freeman and two more on a home run by Hernandez.
That put the Dodgers back in the lead, 5-3. They handed it to Dreyer for the fifth inning.
Added to the 40-man roster for the first time last fall, Dreyer made the team out of spring training with injuries to Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech having made room in the bullpen mix. He became a reliable piece, holding hitters to a .070 average (3 for 43) while striking out 17 in his first 13⅔ major-league innings.
That bubble burst at Wrigley Field.
Dreyer walked the bases loaded, gave up a two-run single to Dansby Swanson, a sacrifice fly to Nico Hoerner and an RBI single to that guy – Crow-Armstrong.
Andy Pages made it a one-run game with a solo home run in the sixth inning, but the Dodgers offered little resistance from there. Shohei Ohtani had a soft single in the third inning, his first hit since returning from paternity leave, but is 1 for 12 since rejoining the team.
More to come on this story.
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