The Chicago Cubs emerged from a seven-game homestand with their longest win streak since their iconic 2016 campaign, a season in which they eventually ended a 108-year World Series drought.
But, heading into a series opener in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, this year’s streak had been built solely on victories against the reeling Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, both of whom have surprisingly plummeted to the bottom of the National League this spring.
The Cubs’ winning ways earned credence on Friday night in L.A. Chicago rallied from a four-run deficit against the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers over the final three innings of play.
Dansby Swanson, who supplied a walk-off single in the 10th to beat the Phillies on Thursday, came through again, this time with a tie-breaking, two-run home run in the ninth. With that swing, Chicago took a lead that it held onto in the bottom of the frame to extend its MLB-best, 10-game win streak with a 6-4 triumph.
Back in 2016, the Cubs stacked 11 victories in a row from July 31 to Aug. 12. This year’s streak is already the longest the club has strung together in April since the 1970 season, per MLB.com.
While Chicago (17-9) is tied atop the NL Central with the Cincinnati Reds, L.A. (17-9) is in second place in the NL West, behind the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers have dropped five of their past seven games.
The Cubs are on a heater. Swanson, especially, has caught fire. His ninth-inning dinger off Tanner Scott marked his sixth homer of the year but also his fifth in his past 12 games. The two-time All-Star shortstop was coming off his first walk-off hit as a North Sider, and then he delivered more heroics with his go-ahead shot on Friday.
Swanson opened the scoring gates for the Cubs in Dodger Stadium two innings before that when he collected the first two of his four RBI with a triple in the top of the seventh. Chicago scored three runs that frame in a surge capped by a Nico Hoerner single that drove Swanson home.
Hoerner and Swanson starred defensively as well.
Swanson dove to snag Kyle Tucker’s looping liner up the middle in the sixth inning, fittingly with Nick Offerman in the booth wearing a Swanson jersey in honor of his fictional “Parks and Recreation” character, Ron Swanson.
In the seventh, Hoerner barehanded a Hyeseong Kim grounder that ricocheted off first baseman Michael Busch, jumping in the air to pluck the ball before firing a strike to lefty reliever Ryan Rolison, who had raced to first for the putout.
Rolison wound up spinning three innings of much-needed shutout ball.
After Alex Bregman launched a game-tying, 408-foot blast to left field in the top of the eighth, the Cubs threatened to take the lead later that frame; however, the Dodgers had some nifty defense up their sleeve, too.
L.A. threw out a sliding Ian Happ at home, courtesy of a beautiful relay from center fielder Andy Pages to Kim on a Moisés Ballesteros double that had Happ making a beeline for the plate.
Earlier, in the fourth, Pages notably beamed a heat-seeking missile to throw out Busch at home.
The Dodgers made plenty of plays on a day that featured 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings of work from their starter, Emmet Sheehan.
The Cubs, though, feasted on L.A.’s bullpen and pulled off what was, according to ESPN, their largest comeback win over the Dodgers since 1986.
“It’s been so many different guys throughout this stretch here,” Swanson said, per ESPN. “That’s the whole purpose of having a team. We have a collective, great unit and a bunch of guys who want to compete and enjoy doing it together.”
