Today the Cubs and Dodgers faced off for the second time in the Tokyo Dome, with the Dodgers winning 6-3.
The story heading into today was the MLB debut for the top prospect in baseball: Roki Sasaki
Sasaki was a phenom in Japan before signing with the Dodgers this offseason. His pitch mix is electric, but has never faced major league hitting in a regular season setting until today
A shaky start
The first inning started with a loud and deep flyout to Ian Happ from Shohei Ohtani. After the early spike in his heart rate, Steele settled in to retire the side in the first.
Sasaki would do the same in the bottom of the first.
In the second Will Smith walked and Max Muncy doubled to right field putting two Dodgers in scoring position. Then thanks to a passed ball, Smith would score and Muncy would advance to third. A Keke Hernandez sacrifice fly would score Muncy, and the Dodgers quickly gained a 2-0 advantage in this game.
In the bottom of the second Sasaki would be a bit erratic. He walked two Cubs batters but was bailed out by a Pete Crow-Armstrong lineout that doubled up Michael Busch to end the inning.
Steele looked to be in control of the third inning until Tommy Edman sent a high heater into the left field stands increasing the Dodger lead to 3.
Thankfully for the Cubs, they showed some life in the third inning. After a Jon Berti infield single, Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki walked to load the bases for Kyle Tucker, who also walked. This scored Berti.
But that would be the extent of the damage as Sasaki would strikeout out Michael Busch and Matt Shaw to end the inning. This would end his night after just three innings of work.
Dodgers start to take control
In the fourth a Kike Hernandez homer gave the Dodgers what felt like an insurmountable 5-1 lead. This may have been preventable by a missed strike three call a pitch prior, but the run counted nonetheless.
Justin Steele did not have his best day for the Cubs. He would end his night going 4 innings allowing five hits, five, striking out five dodgers, and giving up five runs.
Luis Garcia would take over in the 4th for Los Angeles and allow Carson Kally to score on an Ian Happ single to left.
The Cubs then gave the ball to Nate Pearson in the top of the fifth. He allowed Shohei Ohtani to homer? This is written as a question because the correct call may have been fan interference which caused the ball not to hit off the right center wall. But after review, the call stood. 6-2 Dodgers.
Cubs claw back into the game
In the sixth Jack Dreyer would make his MLB debut and pitch for the Dodgers. The Cubs gained momentum after rookie Matt Shaw recorded his first Major League hit. He was brought in on a Dansby Swanson double and an errant Dodger throw would get Swanson to third. The Cubs wouldn’t score again this inning, but they kept the game within reach.
The sixth and seventh innings would be relatively quiet for both teams.
The eighth would start with a good showing from Cubs pitcher Porter Hodge, who shut down the Dodgers allowing zero runs.
Then in the bottom half of that same inning, offseason acquisition Kirby Yates would make his first appearance as a Dodger. His 1.17 ERA from last season would foreshadow his dominance today as he struck out two in the eighth and allowed zero runs.
In the ninth Ryan Pressley kept the game within three, despite loading the bases with one out. But the Cubs offense couldn’t generate any substantial offense in the bottom half of the inning and they fell 6-3.
The Dodgers would sweep the Tokyo series against the Cubs. Despite some optimistic signs, the Cubs have some work to do to catch their National League foe.
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