CHICAGO _ A leadoff home run by Andrew Toles burst through the wind, Brandon McCarthy cut down the Chicago Cubs for six scoreless innings, Ross Stripling struck out four batters in relief, Chase Utley hustled into an insurance run and the Los Angeles Dodgers dashed the two-day party plans of their hosts in a 2-0 victory at Wrigley Field.
After losing on a walkoff on Monday, the Dodgers (5-4) had a day to rest in the Windy City. The group reconvened for a tidy effort on Wednesday to even this series. The rubber match occurs on Thursday afternoon, with former Dodger Brett Anderson facing Hyun-Jin Ryu.
On Monday, the Cubs forced the Dodgers to stand witness for the raising of the 2016 championship banner. Two days later, the Cubs doled out World Series rings to the assembled members of their roster. An announcer at Wrigley Field described it as "the most anticipated championship ring in the history of American sports," a declaration sure to gall any misplaced visitors from Boston _ or anyone exhausted by Cubs hagiography.
The victors unveiled their spoils with joy. The crowd chanted the name of president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and cooed at the 108 diamonds glinting in each ring. Jake Arrieta slid the rock onto his finger and balled his hand into a fist. A sizable ovation awaited David Ross, the backup catcher who has retired into a new gig as a contestant on "Dancing With The Stars." The group gathered on the pitcher's mound for a series of photographs.
Throughout the ceremony, the Dodgers dugout was mostly empty. The players filtered into sight as the first pitch approached. The temperature dipped to 45 degrees, with a hearty wind whipping off Lake Michigan.
The gusts did not bother Toles. He shipped the third pitch off the game into the bleachers beyond right field. The Dodgers poked at Cubs starter John Lackey with a double by Corey Seager and a walk by Logan Forsythe. Lackey responded by striking out Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal. After Joc Pederson loaded the bases with a walk, Lackey painted the outer edge of the strike zone to freeze Chase Utley for the third out.
The Dodgers forced Lackey to throw 50 pitches in the first two innings. But only the one run crossed the plate. Lackey stranded two more in the second after singles by Yasiel Puig and Toles.
McCarthy (2-0, 1.54 ERA) navigated the Cubs batting order without much incident at the start. He induced a pair of double plays to erase singles in the first two innings. In the third, he coaxed a harmless flyball out of third baseman Kris Bryant after yielding a pair of base-runners.
Each starter dispensed outs with a personal flourish. Lackey fanned nine batters through the first four innings, en route to 10 in six innings. McCarthy preferred the dull satisfaction of the groundball. He erased a leadoff fourth-inning single by first baseman Anthony Rizzo by gloving a subsequent grounder hit by second baseman Ben Zobrist. McCarthy whirled toward second base, where Seager was waiting for the peg to start a third double play.
The styles flipped in the fifth. Lackey retired the side on a trio of grounders. McCarthy responded by striking out Lackey and stranding a runner by spinning a curveball past outfielder Jon Jay.
The Cubs appeared unable to solve McCarthy _ and unable to surpass the elements. A fifth-inning blast by catcher Willson Contreras died in the wind. An inning later, Rizzo watched a deep drive buckle and descend into Pederson's glove.
When McCarthy departed, Roberts entrusted the game to Stripling. He dusted aside Zobrist, shortstop Addison Russell and outfielder Jason Heyward in the seventh. After a strikeout of Contreras in the eighth, pinch-hitter Albert Almora, Jr. landed at second after Gonzalez dropped a throw by Seager.
To the plate came Jay, a left-handed batter who had been slightly more productive against left-handed pitchers in 2016. So Roberts stuck with Stripling. The ensuing duel lasted 11 pitches, six of them foul balls. To end matters, Stripling flipped a full-count curveball that Jay viewed as a ball, but umpire Greg Gibson saw differently.
The Dodgers added an insurance run in unorthodox fashion in the eighth. Utley led off with a walk. Two batters later, Toles swung through a slider by reliever Hector Rondon. That should have been the third out, only Contreras dropped the strike. Contreras bounced a throw to first base, which kept the inning alive.
And Utley keep sprinting. He had taken off with the pitch, trying to get into position to score on an extra-base hit. Now he raced home as the relay arrived from Zobrist. Rondon could not secure the baseball. Utley barreled over the plate in time for a second run.
