DODGERS CLINCH NL WEST
Greinke Wins 5th Straight Decision
CHICAGO, Sept. 18 (AP) – The Los Angeles Dodgers hit three home runs in a five-run top of the 6th and went on to defeat the Chicago Cubs 7-3 at Wrigley Field, clinching the National League West in the process. The Dodgers are the second NL team to clinch its division; the Washington Nationals locked down the East two weeks ago. Dodgers starter Zack Greinke allowed two runs over six innings to win his fifth consecutive decision. Since his last defeat, on August 4, Greinke is 5-0 in seven starts, posting a 2.05 ERA over that span as Los Angeles tunes up for the postseason.
The Dodgers never trailed in the game. After three scoreless innings, Los Angeles finally broke through in the top of the fourth off Cubs starter Tsuyoshi Wada. Yasiel Puig led off with a base hit and, one out later, Matt Kemp roped a triple off the ivy in right-center field. After Hanley Ramirez grounded to short for the second out with the infield in, Scott Van Slyke doubled to the left-center field gap, scoring Kemp to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.
It was still 2-0 when the Dodgers came to bat in the top of the sixth and broke the game open. Wada walked Adrian Gonzalez on four pitches to open the frame and Kemp then narrowly missed driving his 20th home run of the year onto Waveland Avenue—the ball hit near the top of the chain link fence above the left field bleachers—to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Ramirez struck out and Wada departed in favor of Kyuji Fujikawa who promptly surrendered a home run to Juan Uribe, making the score 6-0. A.J. Ellis followed with his fifth homer of the season, and the Dodgers led 7-0. It was the first time all year that the Dodgers had hit three home runs in the same inning.
The Cubs got a couple of runs back off Grienke in the sixth. Javier Baez led off with a base hit and Luis Valbuena’s home run, just inside the right field foul pole, made it 7-2. Chicago picked up another run, this one off reliever Paco Rodriguez, in the seventh when John Baker and Chris Coughlan sandwiched doubles around a ground out, to cut the lead to 7-3.
Refusing to quit, the Cubs threatened to score again in the ninth. Baker led off with a single and, one out later, moved to second when Coughlan drew a walk off reliever Scott Elbert. But Baez struck out and Chris Perez came on for the Dodgers to retire Valbuena for the final out.
The Dodgers are effectively locked into the second seed in the NL playoff bracket; their opponent in the divisional series will be whomever wins the Central Division.
9/18/2014, LAN14-ChN14, Wrigley Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Dodgers 0 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 0 7 10 0 6 1
2014 Cubs 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 11 0 9 1
Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Cubs AB R H BI AVG
Gordon,D 2b 4 0 0 0 .265 Coghlan lf 4 0 2 1 .280
Rodriguez,P p 0 0 0 0 .000 Baez,J ss 4 1 1 0 .183
League p 0 0 0 0 .000 Valbuena 3b 5 1 1 2 .227
Crawford,C ph 1 0 0 0 .311 Soler rf 4 0 0 0 .286
Howell p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Vizcaino p 0 0 0 0 .000
Elbert p 0 0 0 0 .000 Parker,B p 0 0 0 0 .000
Perez,C p 0 0 0 0 .000 Kalish cf 4 0 2 0 .316
Puig cf 3 0 1 0 .285 Olt 1b 4 0 0 0 .121
Ethier ph 1 0 0 0 .235 Watkins 2b 4 0 1 0 .305
Gonzalez,Ad 1b 2 2 0 0 .274 Baker,Jo c 4 1 4 0 .188
Barney ph 2 0 0 0 .240 Wada p 2 0 0 0 .100
Kemp rf 4 2 2 3 .270 Fujikawa p 0 0 0 0 .000
Ramirez,H ss 3 0 0 0 .259 Wright,W p 0 0 0 0 .000
Arruebarrena ph 1 0 0 0 .167 Alcantara ph 2 0 0 0 .226
Van Slyke lf 4 1 2 1 .265 37 3 11 3
Uribe 3b 3 1 1 2 .345
Pederson lf 0 0 0 0 .067
Ellis,A c 4 1 3 1 .179
Greinke p 3 0 0 0 .155
Rojas 3b 1 0 1 0 .110
36 7 10 7
Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Greinke W 12-11 6.0 8 2 2 0 6 89 64 2.98
Rodriguez,P H 4 0.2 2 1 1 1 1 21 11 1.54
League H 16 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 4.25
Howell 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 11 7 0.72
Elbert 0.2 1 0 0 1 1 21 11 0.00
Perez,C S 1 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 2.51
9.0 11 3 3 2 8 149 97
Cubs INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wada L 2-5 5.1 7 5 5 1 4 84 54 4.48
Fujikawa 0.2 2 2 2 1 1 14 8 9.00
Wright,W 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 12 6 5.12
Vizcaino 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 22 12 2.25
Parker,B 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 7 5 5.31
9.0 10 7 7 4 6 139 85
LAN: Barney batted for Gonzalez,Ad in the 7th
Arruebarrena batted for Ramirez,H in the 7th
Barney moved to 2b in the 7th
Arruebarrena moved to ss in the 7th
Van Slyke moved to 1b in the 7th
Pederson inserted at lf in the 7th
Rojas inserted at 3b in the 7th
Crawford,C batted for League in the 8th
Ethier batted for Puig in the 9th
Ethier moved to cf in the 9th
Kemp moved to lf in the 9th
Pederson moved to rf in the 9th
ChN: Alcantara batted for Wright,W in the 7th
Kalish moved to rf in the 8th
Alcantara moved to cf in the 8th
2B-Van Slyke(6), Coghlan 2(30), Baker,Jo(7). 3B-Kemp(3), Ellis,A(2).
HR-Kemp(20), Uribe(8), Ellis,A(5), Valbuena(19). RBI-Kemp 3(72),
Van Slyke(37), Uribe 2(53), Ellis,A(23), Coghlan(29), Valbuena 2(56).
SB-Kalish(4). K-Puig 2, Gonzalez,Ad, Ramirez,H, Greinke, Ethier, Coghlan,
Baez,J, Valbuena 2, Soler, Olt 2, Watkins. BB-Puig, Gonzalez,Ad, Kemp,
Pederson, Coghlan, Baez,J. WP-Perez,C.
GWRBI: Kemp
Temperature: 68, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 11 MPH.
Attendance: 18,686
Game Time: 3:24