CHICAGO _ The ballpark started to shake before the ball landed, the ground growing less firm as the grand slam descended into a delirious throng in the right-field bleachers. When the ball disappeared from sight, a few rows shy of Sheffield Avenue, Wrigley Field reverberated like a venue shaking off 108 years of futility.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had hung around for eight innings, sneaking in enough uppercuts to tie this baseball game. The Cubs responded with a haymaker in the bottom of the eighth, a seismic shot from backup catcher Miguel Montero that broke the deadlock and bloodied the nose of the Dodgers in an 8-4 loss in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Montero punished Joe Blanton for a hanging slider, erasing whatever momentum the Dodgers had created in the top of the frame. Manager Dave Roberts gambled on Blanton, issuing a pair of intentional walks to force the Cubs to remove closer Aroldis Chapman. The intentional walks loaded the bases and brought Montero to the plate.
It was an abrupt reversal of the fortune the Dodgers created in the division series. Down two runs in the eighth, they tiptoed into a rally. Andrew Toles came off the bench with a single. Chase Utley took a walk. Justin Turner chopped an infield single. Quiet for nearly three hours, the Dodgers had loaded the bases with none out.
Into the game came Chapman. He struck out Corey Seager and Yasiel Puig before Adrian Gonzalez stepped to the plate. Chapman fired a 102-mph fastball over the middle. Gonzalez volleyed it into center field for a game-tying, two-run single.
The comeback invited questions of Chicago Manager Joe Maddon, who removed Jon Lester from this game after six innings of one-run baseball. Maddon has manufactured an aura of nonchalance around his club. The Cubs ran limited rounds of batting practice Saturday. He did not plan to call additional meetings or alter his club's routine.
"Today is what, Oct. 15?" Maddon said before the game. "I really want to believe our guys are going to treat it like July 15 or Aug. 15."
The Cubs earned their confidence. The team torched the National League Central with a 103-win season, overran San Francisco in the first round and sat at home as the Dodgers expended themselves to reach this series. The roster features few deficiencies. The starters can go deep. The relievers miss bats. The lineup can slug. The defenders make hits disappear.
The Dodgers are less adept in the field. As Roberts constructed his lineup in the morning, he sent a text message to Howie Kendrick, asking where he wanted to play.
Left field, Kendrick responded.
Kendrick spent a decade as an infielder. He acquiesced to a switch to the outfield this spring as the team tried to increase its versatility. After a year in left, Kendrick felt comfortable away from his former home at second base. But he is not a natural.
Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda allowed a leadoff single to Dexter Fowler. Up next, Kris Bryant smashed a slider toward Kendrick, who backtracked toward the ivy. His disinterest in colliding with the wall outweighed his need to make the catch. He jumped too soon, and missed what became an RBI double.
Not since 1908 have these Cubs won a World Series. Not since 1907 had a Cub stolen home in a playoff game. The next two weeks will determine if the first streak will end. But second baseman Javier Baez ended the second streak in the bottom of the second inning.
The sequence that led to Baez's moment started with a leadoff triple by Jason Heyward. With a runner at third, the Dodgers maneuvered their infielders to the lip of the dirt. The positioning soon backfired.
Baez chased a slider and hit a pop-up into shallow center field. Neither of the middle infielders could settle underneath it in time. Baez barreled into second base with a well-placed double. He advanced to third base when Maeda bounced a slider in the dirt.
Baez stood 90 feet away from a run with one out. Lester squared to bunt, but held off on an inside fastball. Behind the plate, Carlos Ruiz noticed Baez cheating homeward. Ruiz called the bluff and flung the ball to third baseman Justin Turner. Baez was not bluffing.
Ruiz earned a start in Game 1 after a pair of crucial hits off the bench in the first round. His attention to detail could not overcome Baez's speed. When the ball left Ruiz's hand, Baez paused, then made up his mind. He was going home. Ruiz's throw was offline and Turner had to backhand it, and Baez slid across the plate before Turner's off-balance return throw reached Ruiz. The Cubs' lead expanded to three.
As the game drifted into the middle innings, a curious pattern emerged. The Dodgers made consistent, hard contact against Lester, a relative rarity for their hitters when facing a left-hander. But the line drives kept finding Chicago gloves, either through positioning, bad luck or the diving ability of center fielder Fowler, who stole hits from Turner in the third and Ruiz in the fourth.
In the fifth, the Dodgers tried another offensive strategy: The harmless-looking fly ball. Andre Ethier hit for Maeda. He lifted a 93-mph fastball into the air. The southern winds swept the ball past the fence for a solo homer.
Three innings later, another home run took flight. There was no wind required for Montero's game-deciding blast.
