The Chicago Cubs and Pete Crow-Armstrong sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Before Wednesday's game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs kicked off, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave his input on the close MVP race between Shohei Ohtani and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
"He [Crow-Armstrong] has rightfully made it a lot closer than most people expected," Roberts said via SportsNetLA on the Cubs center fielder's performance this season.
Well, Crow-Armstrong pushed his MVP agenda against the National League West-leading Dodgers with a 3-for-5 performance in the tight 7-6 win over Los Angeles that resulted in a sweep and sixth straight loss for the Dodgers.
Two of his five hits came via the longball, and he had amassed 10 total bases overall within the first four innings of play.
Crow-Armstrong spearheaded Chicago's offense and completely routed Dodgers starter Eric Lauer. Heading into Wednesday's start, the Dodgers had not lost any games that Lauer pitched in.
The Cubs changed that narrative in the blink of an eye, tagging Lauer for six earned runs on 11 hits through four innings.
Ohtani led off the scoring on both sides with a leadoff home run off Cubs' starter Shoto Imanaga (25th this season) and is hitting .435 in his last seven games.
Crow-Armstrong responded with a leadoff shot of his own in the Cubs' bottom half of the first to tie the game, and thus began his tirade at the plate. Mano y mano.
The bulk of Chicago's scoring came in the fourth inning, as they headed into the inning leading the Dodgers 3-1. The Cubs doubled their scoring output with Crow-Armstrong's second home run of the game (a two-run shot), and an RBI single brought to you by Alex Bregman that pushed the Cubs' lead to 6-1.
Even with the deficit looking bleak for the Dodgers, the offense finally mustered up a big inning in the eighth. Los Angeles was able to produce a five-spot in the latter inning, highlighted by a three-run shot from Max Muncy and a two-run home run from Ohtani (his second of the game), which put the Dodgers within one.
"It sucks to lose; it absolutely does. But we're going to win again; I like the fight," Roberts said on SportsNetLA.
It also marks the first time that Ohtani has had a multi-homer game all season.
But their attempt at a comeback would fall short, as the Dodgers were retired in order in the ninth.
Besides Ohtani, Mookie Betts was the silver lining on offense with a 4-for-5 day at the plate after going 0-for-12 heading into Chicago.
"Hopefully, this is something that he [Betts] could be building on. Obviously, with him going, he makes us that much better offensively," Roberts said on Betts' four-hit day.
With the loss, the Dodgers drop to a 69-46 record and have dropped their sixth straight overall.
This is only the second time since April 2019 that the Dodgers have lost six or more games in a row. The first time came in July of last year when they lost seven in a row.
"We were losing games differently," Roberts said on the comparisons of this cold streak to last year's. "Certainly, the results of last year were the same as we're going through right now. But I do feel that eighth inning is something to build on."
Los Angeles will look to recoup themselves on the flight to Phoenix, as they prep for the final stretch of their six-game road trip with a three-game weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
