LOS ANGELES — It was a tale of two Cubs center fielders this weekend at Dodger Stadium, where the Cubs’ 10-game winning streak appeared to be in danger of succumbing to gravity and the two-time defending World Series champions Saturday — not necessarily in that order.
The Dodgers, stung Friday when they lost for the first time this season in a game they led by four runs after seven innings, threatened to bring the Cubs back down to earth by taking opening an eight-run lead after six innings, much to the delight of a sellout crowd of 53,397 lured, in part, by Roki Sasaki Bobblehead Night.
The Dodgers sent 11 men to the plate in the fifth against two Cubs pitchers, starter Colin Rea and reliever Javier Assad, scoring six runs on five singles, a double, two walks and a wild pitch on a day Sasaki came to the mound to the sounds of ‘‘Bailalo Rocky,’’ which sounds more like ‘‘Roki’’ than the name of the fighter who ran up the steps in the movie.
Before the game, there were only cheers for ex-Cubs center fielder Rick Monday. He was celebrated for his act of patriotism 50 years ago to the day, when he snatched the flag away from two trespassers who had parked themselves on the Dodger Stadium lawn with the intention of setting it on fire. A bad idea, especially when the guy in the Cubs uniform also served six years in the U.S. Marine Reserves.
‘‘It was never about me,’’ Monday said before being honored in a pregame ceremony. ‘‘It was always about the flag and what it means to so many people.’’
That flag is on its way to be displayed in this summer at the Hall of Fame, courtesy of a loan by Monday, who was traded to the Dodgers a year later and is now a beloved radio voice of the team.
Meanwhile, the incumbent Cubs center fielder, Pete Crow-Armstrong, is being serenaded with boos every time he comes to the plate. PCA, who grew up in the Los Angeles area, overnight now rivals third baseman Alex Bregman for villainy in the eyes of the local citizenry.
Bregman’s transgression is deeply embedded in the collective memory of Dodgers fans who haven’t forgiven him for his role in the Astros’ trash-can banging, sign-stealing chicanery that they believe stole a World Series title away from their heroes.
What did homeboy PCA do? Well, he dared to suggest that Dodgers fans, unlike their Cubs counterparts, are not particularly invested in watching the game, that seeing the game is less important than being seen at the game.
Crow-Armstrong dissed Dodgers’ fans in a story published in Chicago magazine during spring training.
The funniest thing he saw, PCA said Saturday, was when he looked up in the stands and saw some of his friends booing him — as a joke, of course.
‘‘I have a video of that,’’ he said.
Happy anniversary
The Cubs were playing on the 150th anniversary of the first game in franchise history. ‘‘A Handsome Victory Over the Louisville Nine’’ is how one headline described the 4-0 triumph by the White Stockings, which was the original name of the National League franchise that became the Cubs.