Chris Denorfia gave the Chicago Cubs another walk-off win with a sacrifice fly that lifted the Cubs (39-30) to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers (39-33) Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.
Denorfia drove a 1-2 fastball from Los Angeles's Kenley Jansen into deep center field. Joc Pederson chased it down, made the over-the-shoulder catch, and threw wildly to the infield. However, Matt Szczur scored very easily for the only run of the entire game.
The Cubs now have nine walk-off wins this season, which leads the Major Leagues. They are also now a season-best nine games over .500 with winning records both at home (20-13) and on the road (19-17).
As Denorfia came up, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly played a five-man infield, bringing Andre Ethier in from left field as the extra man.
The Cubs loaded the bases on Mike Baxter's and Szczur's singles and pinch hitter Dexter Fowler's walk, all off Joel Peralta. Jansen then came in and induced Addison Russell to ground hard to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who bobbled the ball but still got the force out at home. All runners advanced, including pinch runner Travis Wood, who ran for Fowler because of Fowler's ankle soreness that kept him from starting. Denorfia then won the game.
Jason Motte (W: 5-1, 3.29 ERA) won it with a perfect 10th inning in which he recorded one strikeout. Cubs starter Jason Hammel was brilliant in 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball (video). He allowed only two hits, one a bloop triple to Yasiel Puig, while striking out six. The phrase "bloop triple" may sound strange, but strange was the play itself as the ball fell in between two Cubs outfielders who each lost the ball in the twilight.
Peralta (L: 1-1, 1.59) did not record an out in taking the loss. Dodgers starter Zack Greinke made his ninth straight start without recording a win even though he pitched six scoreless innings and lowered his ERA to 1.70 on the season. His record is stuck on 5-2, and he last won on May 5. He is 0-1 with a 1.49 ERA in those nine games.
The Cubs have won the first two games of the the four-game series, which continues Wednesday night at 8:05 p.m. EDT with Mike Bolsinger (4-2, 2.87) on the mound for Los Angeles and Kyle Hendricks (2-3, 4.28) pitching for the Cubs. The series finale on Thursday afternoon (2:20 p.m.) matches Carlos Frias and Jon Lester.
