Matt Beaty and Justin Turner both reached a career milestone with their home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a second consecutive comeback win by defeating the Chicago Cubs, 5-3.
Although it initially was not ruled as such, Rich Hill surrendered a two-run home run to Anthony Rizzo in the first inning. Cody Bellinger made an attempt at a leaping catch but the ball went over his back shoulder and off a fan’s hands, sending it back into the field of play and leading to a double being the initial call.
Kris Bryant then broke a tie with his leadoff homer in the third inning. Hill had allowed just three home runs in his previous 34 innings before surrendering two to the Cubs. While he was stung by the long ball, the veteran left-hander finished with seven strikeouts over seven innings.
Hill retired 11 consecutive batters before allowing a double to pinch-hitter David Bote with one out in the seventh. He stranded Bote to finish his outing by retiring 15 of the final 17 batters faced. It marked a second time this season Hill went seven innings.
His ability to limit damage allowed the Dodgers ample opportunities to climb back into the game. They initially did so on Beaty’s two-run blast in the second inning for his first career home run.
Turner’s 100th career home run pulled the Dodgers in the bottom of the third. They took the lead for good the following inning as Hill cashed in Beaty’s double with a two-out RBI single. That snapped a string of 13 consecutive runs scored by the Dodgers via homer.
L.A. was gifted a run in the fifth inning when Javier Baez inexplicably threw to home rather than attempting to finish a potential 3-6-3 double play that would’ve ended the inning. Baez’s throw did appear to beat Alex Verdugo to the plate but Willson Contreras was late getting the tag down.
Kyle Hendricks was responsible for each of the five runs the Dodgers scored in what was his shortest outing since April 7. His removal with one out in the fifth also snapped a three-start streak of going at least seven innings.
