Chicago Cubs third baseman Patrick Wisdom (16) homered for the third straight game in a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, April 16. 2023 (Courtesy Photo)
Cody Bellinger crushed a solo home run against his former team, Patrick Wisdom homered for a third consecutive game and the Chicago Cubs held on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Dodgers Stadium.
The Cubs (8-6) took two of three in the series and have now won seven of 10 after a slow 1-3 start to the season. The Dodgers dropped to 8-8 on the year with the loss.
Chicago left-handed pitcher Drew Smyly (1-1) allowed one run and four hits while tallying three strikeouts through 5 2/3 innings.
“We all believe in there. We’re nasty. We have a good team,” Smyly said. “When you start knocking off some series wins against opponents like this, I think it really just takes it to another level of being like, ‘Yeah, we are just as good as them.’”
Related Stories
LeBron James Dominants in Lakers Win Over Jazz, Finish as 7th Seed in Western Conference
Jackie Joyner Kersee’s New Book Helps Youth Achieve
Dodgers lefty Julio Urias (3-1) pitched 5 2/3 innings and threw six strikeouts but unraveled in the top of the sixth after giving up the two biggest hits of the game.
“I felt good about my pitches,” Urías said through a translator. “I felt really good about everything I was doing. Obviously, it’s baseball and things happen. … I made a mistake and I paid for it.”
“I think Julio threw the heck out of the baseball,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “And we’ve talked about it ad nauseum, but when you give teams extra outs, it’s going to cost you.”
Wisdom and Bellinger were able to blast back-to-back homers in the sixth to take a 3-1 advantage. Bellinger, who spent six seasons with the Dodgers was greeted with a standing ovation throughout the series and hit his third home run of the season.
“I know it’s a huge weekend for him coming back here,” Wisdom said. “He makes that defensive play the other night and, you know, good at-bats all around and then hits a big homer kind of to cap it off, so that was super fun to be a part of.”
Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the third with a home run off Smyly, his fourth homer of the season. Mookie Betts singled to right in the bottom of the seventh off Adbert Alzolay, bringing Taylor home to make it 3-2 but the Dodgers went on to go scoreless the rest of the way.
“Throughout the season, teams get hot and get a lot of runs, and then there are spells where you’re not putting up any runs,” J.D. Martinez said. “Credit to the pitchers for keeping us in the game the last couple games, but we have to do better.”
The Dodgers now face the New York Mets (11-6) in a three-game series.
