Seeing the Los Angeles Dodgers put 12 runs on the board in support of starting pitcher Roki Sasaki must have made the Dodgers faithful happy on Saturday night.

Max Muncy hit a two-run home run, his ninth homer this season, and the Dodgers poured it on against the Chicago Cubs. Los Angeles wrapped it all up with a 12-4 win at Dodger Stadium.

Andy Pages collected three RBIs while Muncy and Teoscar Hernández recorded two RBIs apiece. 

And then there was Sasaki, who hasn't really been a lock to have great starts this season. But Sasaki worked five innings en route to getting his first win this season. Sasaki relied on his splitter against the Cubs, throwing it 48% of the time on Saturday night.

He leaned into his four-seam fastball 31% of the time on the mound, while twirling his slider in 20% of his pitches. Sasaki averaged 97.2 mph on his four-seamer, which probably makes Dodgers manager Dave Roberts smile a bit more. Sasaki had a 36% whiff rate on that nasty slider, too, according to Baseball Savant.

Cubs starter Colin Rea was battered throughout his 3 1/3 innings on the mound, taking the loss and seeing his record fall to 3-1. Rea gave up six hits, six runs (all earned), walked four, and struck out four.

Javier Assad came on in the fourth inning in relief of Rea. He wasn't much better, going 2 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits, six runs (all earned), walking two, and striking out two. 

With one out in the second inning, the Cubs' Seiya Suzuki hit a solo home run, his fourth homer this season, and Chicago went up early 1-0. Then, in the top of the third inning, Michael Busch's RBI single brought home Miguel Amaya for a 2-0 Chicago edge. 

But Muncy had something to say in the bottom of the third. He connected for a two-run home run, with Shohei Ohtani scoring ahead of him. That tied the game at 2-2.

The Cubs went back up 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning as Moises Ballesteros hit a solo home run, his fourth homer on the season. In the bottom of the fourth, the Dodgers, once again, tied things up at 3-3. Alex Freeland doubled to left, scoring Hyeseong Kim. 

With runners at first and third base with one out, Freddie Freeman hit a sharp single to left. Ohtani moved up to second base and Freeland scored, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 edge.

Hernández stepped to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. He singled to center, bringing home Ohtani and Freeman. The Dodgers extended their lead to 6-3, and the rout was on.

Los Angeles had a two-run third, a six-run fourth, and a four-run sixth to post double digits in the run column.

The Dodgers are now 18-9 and in second place in the National League West Division. The Cubs fall to 17--10, landing them in second place in the NL Central.

These two teams wrap up their weekend series on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

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