LOS ANGELES – A snapshot of Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga and Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani just before the end of the the fifth inning would show them almost side by side – Imanaga in front of the mound, Ohtani jogging up the first baseline with his bat still in hand.
They faced right field, their eyes following the trajectory of Ohtani’s long fly ball as frenzied Dodgers fans cheered. It fell short of the wall, into right fielder Cody Bellinger’s glove.
In the Cubs’ 6-3 win Tuesday against the Dodgers, that was as close as any of the Dodgers’ top three hitters came to doing damage against Imanaga. In seven innings, Imanaga didn’t give up a hit to Ohtani, Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman. The three runs Imanaga surrendered came on solo home runs – two courtesy of Tommy Edman and one from Max Muncy.
In a billing that featured Imanaga and Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in his first start back from the 60-day IL, Imanaga recorded a quality start, and Yamamoto held the Cubs to one run through four innings.
The Cubs came back in the eighth inning by taking advantage of the Dodgers’ sloppy defense. After Ian Happ walked and Dansby Swanson reached base on catcher Austin Barnes’ throwing error, Seiya Suzuki roped a ground ball to Edman in center field. Edman’s throw back into the infield missed his target and rolled out of bounds to allow a second run to score on the play and tie the game.
After Bellinger took first on an intentional walk and Isaac Pareded struck out for the first out of the inning, Michael Busch hit a ground ball to Dodgers second baseman Kiké Hernández. Before Hernández secured the ball, he attempted to tag Bellinger as he ran past. The ball rolled away, and Suzuki scored.
The Cubs tacked on insurance runs on Nico Hoerner’s RBI double and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s sharp groundout to second to bring their total in the eighth to five runs.
The game ended with Crow-Armstrong robbing Muncy of a home run to center field.
