Justin Wrobleski’s night in Chicago turned into a fast-moving remake of a familiar script: too many balls leaving the yard, too little time to recover, and a Dodgers offense that couldn’t keep pace in a 10-5 loss to the Cubs.
Wrigley can always surprise you, but this one showed its hand immediately. The game opened with a five-run first inning, and the Dodgers briefly grabbed control before the Cubs answered right back.
Tommy Edman got Los Angeles started with a home run that drove in Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages, both of whom had reached on soft contact. That 3-0 edge lasted only long enough for Seiya Suzuki to unload a two-run shot two batters into Chicago’s first turn at the plate.
From there, Wrobleski kept running into the same problem. He gave up three straight two-run homers across three innings, then surrendered a fourth later on.
Kevin Alcántara put the Cubs ahead in the second with the first home run of his big league career. Carson Kelly followed with another long ball, his ninth against the Dodgers.
Then, with Kyle Tucker making his first appearance for Chicago, it was Michael Busch who did the damage in the fifth, a solo homer that sent Wrobleski out of the game.
Busch’s success against his former club keeps piling up. In 16 games against the Dodgers, he has 15 extra-base hits, including five home runs.
For Wrobleski, the damage was especially steep. He had allowed just eight home runs before his last start, then matched that total over his last two outings combined, with back-to-back appearances in which he gave up four.
Matthew Boyd, meanwhile, absorbed the early punch and settled in. The Dodgers struck for three runs in the first, but Boyd kept the game from getting away by leaning on the Cubs’ defense and limiting the fallout.
In the fifth, Pedro Ramírez made a strong play at third to rob Andy Pages, and Nico Hoerner did the same to Freddie Freeman at second. In the sixth, Seiya Suzuki threw out Kyle Tucker at the plate on what looked like a routine double off the wall, and that play cost Los Angeles a run after Teoscar Hernández followed with the game’s sixth homer, a towering blast.
That Hernández shot cut the margin to 7-5, but the game shifted decisively once the bullpens took over. Boyd worked into the seventh, while the Dodgers’ relief corps was pressed into action much earlier and couldn’t stop the bleeding.
Edgardo Henríquez loaded the bases in the sixth, and Tanner Scott couldn’t escape the jam. All three runners scored after a walk and a single, pushing the Cubs out to the final 10-5 margin.
The Dodgers now turn to Tuesday’s matchup with the Cubs, when Tarik Skubal is set to make his debut with Los Angeles. First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. PT, with Javier Assad on the mound for Chicago.
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