LOS ANGELES _ The setup was similar.
With two outs in the fourth inning on Saturday, Chase Utley walked to home plate amid a scoreless tie.
Utley saw the first pitch from Chicago Cubs right-hander John Lackey, a soft curveball, and slapped it to left field. The home fans roared. Kike' Hernandez scored safely from second base. The Dodgers went ahead by one run.
To open the weekend series the previous night, Utley also gave the Dodgers their first run in a 4-0 victory, leading off the third inning with a solo home run to center field.
On Saturday, the club again shut out Chicago, 5-0, putting it in line for a sweep with Clayton Kershaw stepping onto the mound Sunday.
Utley brought in another pair of runs in a four-run fourth inning for the Dodgers when he singled on a ground ball to right field.
Over his past three games, the veteran second baseman has a pair of home runs and five RBIs.
The four-run fourth onslaught began when Chris Taylor hit a two-run home run, falling just inside the left-field foul pole.
It was Taylor's sixth home run of the season. Only three Dodgers have hit more this season than Taylor: Cody Bellinger (nine), Yasiel Puig (eight) and Corey Seager (seven).
All five runs came against Lackey, who exited after five innings.
It was an uncharacteristic outing for Lackey.
Over his decade-long career, there was no team that he had fared better against than the Dodgers. In 12 career meetings, Lackey posted a 1.73 ERA.
That meant in 12 career starts against the Dodgers, he had surrendered only 16 earned runs.
Lackey, along with fellow veteran right-hander Brandon McCarthy carried dueling no-hitters through the first three innings in front of 48,322 at Dodger Stadium.
The Cubs were first to break up McCarthy's no-hitter in the top of the fourth when Ian Happ lined a 93-mph fastball to center field with two outs. Happ passed first base and looked to extend his single into a double. As he slid into second base, he appeared to beat a tag applied by Corey Seager, the shortstop, and was ruled safe. It was, however, overruled upon review to end the inning.
The anticipated weekend series was their first meeting in Los Angeles this season. The Cubs took two out of the three games against the Dodgers in early April in Wrigley Field.
A year ago, as the Cubs snapped their 108-year championship drought, they eliminated the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series before advancing to the World Series.
