Sept. 12 – Shohei Ohtani hit one of the Dodgers’ four homers in the first inning, Tommy Edman drove in two runs and host Los Angeles beat the Chicago Cubs 10–8 on Wednesday.
Edelman, Will Smith and Max Muncy hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning against left-hander Jordan Weeks, and the top-ranked Dodgers avoided a three-game sweep by the Cubs. Edelman hit home runs from both sides of the plate.
Ohtani, who also stole bases, hit 47 home runs and 48 steals, approaching the first 50–50 season in major league history.
The Dodgers (87-59) are five games ahead of the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West. Los Angeles is 5 1/2 games ahead of the third-place San Diego Padres.
Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger homered for the Cubs. Bellinger hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning to help Chicago tie the game 7–7.
The Cubs (75-71) trail the New York Mets by five games in the race for the final NL wild-card spot.
In the top of the first inning, Isaac Paredes hit an RBI single to give the Cubs a 2–0 lead. A run scored and former Dodger Michael Bush hit a single and scored on a double.
Ohtani’s sixth leadoff homer of the season came on Weeks’ fourth pitch of the game. His 47th home run of the year moved him into a tie with Bellinger for third on the Dodgers’ single-season home run list, behind only Shane Greene (49 in 2001) and Adrian Beltre (48 in 2004).
Edman scored two points to take a 3–2 lead, then Smith scored his 18th point and Muncie scored his 14th.
Suzuki got the ball going for the Cubs in the third, his 20th, before Ohtani hit a two-run single in the bottom of the inning to give the Dodgers a 7-3 lead.
The Cubs tied the game in the fifth inning with Bellinger’s home run and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s RBI hit. It was Bellinger’s 17th goal of the season and his second in three games against his former club.
The Dodgers (3-3) got the game-winning hit in the seventh inning when Gavin Lux hit against Shawn Armstrong.
Edelman hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning. Edelman has hit four home runs in the past two days and has hit none in 19 major league games this year.
Weeks allowed seven runs on eight hits in three innings, allowing four walks and striking out two.
Dodgers starter Bobby Miller allowed six runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings, including four base hits and two strikeouts.
Alex Vesia (3-4) pitched a scoreless inning to earn the win. Michael Kopech earned his 13th save despite walking three batters and allowing a sacrifice fly to Paredes in the ninth.
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