CHICAGO _ Yu Darvish stepped outside the batter's box as his eyes registered the location of the last pitch. It was a fastball from Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr., like the three pitches before it, and it was not a strike, like the three before it. Darvish roared and chucked his bat into the grass. The trajectory of the lumber was not majestic _ it felt more visceral, the stunned reaction of Darvish seeing fortune smile on the Dodgers.
In a postseason packed with bat flips, this one in the sixth inning of a 6-1 victory over the Cubs was the most improbable. With two outs and the bases loaded in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts allowed Darvish to bat for himself, even after sending Curtis Granderson to the on-deck circle as a decoy.
The move looked puzzling in the moment. In hindsight, it served as another chapter in this idyllic postseason, one in which the Dodgers own a commanding 3-0 series lead, and reside one victory away from their first World Series since 1988. Roberts manages a club in an enviable position.
Roberts operates with urgency in the playoffs, willing to insert pitchers and pinch-hitters with abandon in search of exploiting any edge. Here he opted for restraint, hoping to extend Darvish deeper into the game. As his team stormed to their sixth consecutive playoff victory, a franchise record, Roberts received the best of both worlds: Darvish took a walk to extend a two-run lead to three, then lasted 6 1/3 innings without permitting another run.
Darvish surrendered a solo homer to the second batter he faced, Kyle Schwarber. He did not allow another Cub to stand on third base. He finished with seven strikeouts. He lasted long enough to avoid exhausting the bullpen.
The lineup swarmed Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, their nemesis from last October, and milked two runs out of Joe Maddon's tinderbox bullpen in the eighth. Hendricks had handcuffed the Dodgers in last year's postseason. He yielded only one run in two starts, piling up quick outs with his two-seam fastball in the decisive Game 6 against Clayton Kershaw. After a shaky start to 2017, he posted a 2.19 earned-run average in the second half.
Roberts reconfigured his lineup to account for Hendricks, a right-hander. Cody Bellinger moved into the No. 2 spot. Justin Turner shifted back to No. 3. Andre Ethier started in left field over Granderson. Chris Taylor moved from center field to shortstop, with Joc Pederson playing center.
On the mound was Darvish. In Game 3 of the first round, Darvish gave up two hits in five innings. On Tuesday, the Cubs tagged him for three hits in the first inning.
Chicago pounced on misplaced pitches from Darvish. Schwarber lifted a thigh-high cutter into the left-field bleachers for a solo shot. The blast showed the strength of the wind as it carried out of the ballpark: The ball would be flying. A pair of well-struck singles followed, though Darvish escaped with a pair of strikeouts.
For the third game in a row, the Cubs scored first. An answer arrived in the top of the second. Hendricks tested Ethier with an 87-mph sinker. Ethier ripped a tying homer over the ivy in right field.
Hendricks relies on generating outs on the ground. The Dodgers intended to hunt elevated fastballs, as Ethier did in the second and Taylor did in the third. Taylor crushed a 3-1, 89-mph two-seamer beyond the fence in center to put the Dodgers ahead.
Darvish flirted with trouble in the fourth. A swinging bunt by shortstop Addison Russell stayed fair down the third-base line, which gave the Cubs a two-out single. Darvish issued a four-pitch walk to outfielder Jayson Heyward. The free pass gave Hendricks a chance to stun his fellow pitcher. Instead, Hendricks struck out on three pitches.
In the top of the fifth, the Dodgers squeezed a run out of Hendricks, but could have scored more. Pederson led off with a double into the right-field corner. Two batters later, Taylor stung an 89-mph sinker past third base, where it rattled around in left field until Taylor dived into third base for a triple.
A productive out would have brought Taylor home. When Bellinger chopped a grounder to the right side of the infield, Taylor broke for the plate. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo swept up the baseball and catcher Willson Contreras made the tag. Taylor had no chance.
Hendricks stumbled into the sixth. A Dodgers rally started with an error by third baseman Kris Bryant, who fumbled a grounder off Yasiel Puig's bat. Ethier smacked a single up the middle. Cubs manager Joe Maddon had seen enough. Hendricks departed and into the game came Edwards.
The first round of these playoffs was not kind to Edwards. He pitched in all five games against Washington. He issued four walks. He gave up six runs. His ERA was 23.14. He rebounded to collect four outs Sunday against the Dodgers, which earned him a chance to douse this blaze.
After Chase Utley grounded out, Austin Barnes coaxed another walk out of Edwards. Pederson flied out to right field, where Heyward dissuaded Puig from tagging up. The passivity from Puig looked confounding as Granderson trotted to the bench and Darvish grabbed a bat.
Darvish crowded the plate. He tried his best to seem menacing. He feigned a bunt attempt as Edwards opted for a first-pitch fastball. It sailed high. A second fastball rose even higher. From behind the plate, Contreras barked at Edwards.
The jitteriness forced Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio out of his dugout. He counseled his 26-year-old pitcher. The message did not take. The crowd groaned when Edwards fired a third fastball outside the zone. By the fourth, there was acceptance. Edwards missed outside. Darvish roared and flipped his bat.
